Report: Duchene admits his future “is not for me to decide”

It’s been a long calendar year for Colorado Avalanche forward Matt Duchene. Not only has he had to endure a historically awful season with his team, but he’s faced rumors and speculation about his future with the team the entire time. Add to that the World Cup of Hockey in which he competed before the season and the IIHF World Championships in which he competed after the season and Matt Duchene is burnt out.

Truthfully, he’s been that way for awhile. “I burnt out in January,” said Duchene in an interview with Sportsnet’s Ryan Dixon. “I think a lot of guys did. Nobody really knows how tough that situation was. We were out of it by mid-December. To play the rest of the year out, after playing big hockey at the start of the year with the World Cup, it was really hard.”

Since then the 26-year-old has been linked in trade rumors to numerous teams including the New York Islanders, Nashville Predators, Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens, but to date, no trade has materialized. Duchene admits that it’s been a frustrating situation. “It’s not for me to decide,” said Duchene. “It’s up to the management in Colorado. We’ll see what happens. I’m not sure who I’m going to be playing for next year, but it doesn’t matter, you come out with the same intensity here and in the gym.”

For what it’s worth, there was a sense of hopelessness in Duchene’s words as he talked about the situation in Colorado, saying “We’ve had some years where things were looking up and that would almost give you some false hope, I guess.” Does that sound like a man who’s eager to stick around? Here’s hoping he gets the fresh start that he so badly needs.