Report: Sakic has new master plan in Duchene saga!

Yes, the Matt Duchene watch is still underway, especially now that he has recorded three goals and eight point in the first nine games of the season. 

However, with the Colorado Avalanche doing much better than last year, many wonder if GM Joe Sakic’s plan has taken a different turn. 

“Up until recently, I would have said he’s definitely gone,” replied NHL Insider Darren Dreger Friday morning on Buffalo’s WGR 550, per Fanrag Sports. “And look, there have been some pretty sweet deals, at least that’s what I’m told that Joe Sakic should have embraced and made that move. But there are general managers out there now who think that maybe it’s the opposite. Maybe Sakic is taking his time here in trying to convince the player, Matt Duchene, to hang in there because of how valuable he is to the Colorado Avalanche and the fact that they’re enjoying some surprising success. »

Everyone expected the Avalanche to have an awful start to the season, and pick up where they had left off back in April, but they hold a respectable 5-4-0 record so far. 

However, Dreger does not believe it will last… 

“But for me, when I look at Colorado I don’t see it. Maybe you guys look at them differently. I think they’re going to be a bad team moving forward. I don’t think they’re going to have much of a run this year at all, and the team we saw last year near the bottom of the National Hockey League – I think that’s the direction they’re headed.

“So the trade of Matt Duchene still makes more sense than not for me.”

Duchene is set to become an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career on July 1, 2019 and Dreger thinks it won’t be the Avalanche who will have to talk contract extension with him…