Breaking: Dreger drops a big update on Duchene contract talks.

Signs of hope.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 5 years ago
Breaking: Dreger drops a big update on Duchene contract talks.
Del Mecum/CSM/Zuma

It feels like it has been a while since fans of the Ottawa Senators have been on the receiving end of some positive news when it comes to their favorite team, but today may be one of those days. 

Earlier this month a report from Sportsnet's National Hockey League insider Chris Johnston had brought disappointing news for fans when he revealed during a Headlines segment on Hockey Night in Canada that talks between star center Matt Duchene and the Senators had cool off. The news came as a tough blow to a fan base that had just recently lost superstar defenseman Erik Karlsson and was watching their team struggle nightly in the standings.

“It’s quite interesting that the talks between the Ottawa Senators and Matt Duchene – their pending unrestricted free agent – have appeared to have cooled off,” said Johnston at the time. “There doesn’t appear to have been anything of substance here in recent times and no talks immediately scheduled in the weeks ahead.

“Pierre Dorion, the general manager, doesn’t want to place any sort of deadline on when he needs an answer on Matt Duchene’s intentions – whether will he sign an extension – but clearly, as this slides along here, we are looking at him as a potential target in that trade deadline period and someone that the Senators are going to have to make a decision on because I don’t get the sense from Duchene’s side that there’s any rush for them to make that kind of decision.”

Although undoubtedly that news was accurate at the time, Johnston has a sterling reputation as an insider, TSN's Darren Dreger has just reported  that negotiations appear to have picked up again between both sides, and in fact those negotiations will continue next week as the Senators look to close in on a new contract with Duchene. That being said it does not sound like a deal with Duchene will come cheap for the Senators, a franchise that has fallen on hard times both in terms of public relations as well as in terms of their on ice product. 

Dreger is reporting that the kind of cash the Senators would need to put up in order to get Duchene signed to an 8 year contract would be in the range of $8 million to $9 million in average annual value with Dreger specifically citing something in the range of $65 million to $75 million over the full length of the contract. 

In spite of the Senators struggles this season Duchene has produced at a strong offensive pace for the organization, recording 20 goals and 26 assists for 46 points through his first 40 games of the season. It's easy to see why the Senators and general manager Pierre Doirion would not want to give up that kind of offensive production but there is likely also another factor at player here. When you consider how much Duchene cost the team to acquire, including the Senators 1st round pick this year, it's hard to imagine the Senators could even afford to allow him to walk away at this stage.

Duchene could in theory be traded at the deadline as rental but the Senators would only get a rental's value in return as well. This latest from Dreger certainly seems to point to the fact that the Senators would prefer to avoid that scenario if at all possible.

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