Rumor: Two big teams expected to make a late push for Matt Duchene.

Arguably the National Hockey League's hottest rumor prior to the trade deadline was the chatter surrounding Colorado Avalanche star forward Matt Duchene. While those rumors largely died down following the March 1st deadline, that hasn't lasted very long. 

On Friday morning TSN hockey insider Darren Dreger was a guest on Bufallo's WGR 550 radio and he was asked specifically about Duchene's future with the Avalanche. While Duchene obviously still remains with the Avalanche, Dreger believes that offers from rival teams will heat up prior to the start of the regular season.

“I think so,” said Dreger as per Fanrag's Chris Nichols. “We’ve talked about this – generally in the media – for the past several months, better than a year. But now it’s reached that point where it definitely feels like the Avalanche are in a position to get something done. Joe Sakic recently saying that he’s listening to offers. Now, I think that’s different than where he was at, say, going into the draft because the demand for Matt Duchene – to many NHL general managers with interest – were just unreasonable.

One of the very interesting points Dreger made during the interview was to touch on the fact that he believes having Duchene back next season would be extremely awkward for both the player and the team.

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So what teams might be interested? Well Dreger did actually mention two teams by name, and needless to say the addition of Matt Duchene to either of these teams could set the hockey world on fire.

“But I still think that Nashville is interested. I think that there are a lot of other teams. Maybe still Montreal, as an example – I don’t know – that would be interested. I mean, at worst he is a top-six impactful guy. And I think that a lot of teams recognize that.”

Stay tuned because this one is far from over.