Yesterday brought the culmination of several weeks of work for the front offices of three separate franchises. Ottawa, Colorado and Nashville consummated the biggest trade of the season, and the first three-team trade in several years. Kyle Turris ended up on the Predators and Matt Duchene on the Senators while Colorado finally got their haul of prospects and draft picks. Nashville only made the deal contingent on a Turris contract extension, which came in the form of six years at $6MM per season. That deal will keep the 28-year old center in Nashville until 2024, and immediately improves their depth down the middle.
Colorado GM Joe Sakic has been criticized for months as the Duchene saga lingered on and on, as he seemed to be over-valuing him in trade. Duchene clearly wanted out of Denver, and it was frustrating for many to watch him struggle in front of the media for so long. Still, Duchene went about his work and showed early this season he was still an elite player. That allowed Sakic to stick to his price tag, which eventually resulted in quite the haul.
Ottawa on the other hand had been pursuing Duchene for quite some time, with GM Pierre Dorion saying he first approached Sakic about him at the 2016 GM meetings. The Ontario-born center has just one year on his contract after this one, but has elite upside and could help the Senators take the next step in the playoffs. Already they found themselves in the Eastern Conference finals last season, and if Duchene can get back to the nearly point-per-game player he has been at times throughout his career they could go even further.
So who really won this trade? All three could claim victory, but there are risks on each side. Cast your vote and explain in the comments why.
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My opinion? Matt Duchene won this trade by finally getting out of Colorado.
Nashville didn’t lose a roster player, and I don’t think there are five players 30 or over at the moment on the team (Rinne, Hartnell, Emelin…?), so they definitely didn’t need any of the assets surrendered. They’re looking like a conference finalist or better for the foreseeable future.
I said Colorado because this should really kickstart the rebuild, but this appears to be the rare trade where all parties involved might win. If Colorado develops 2 of the picks and Girard into star players, they clearly win, but all of them panning out is so unlikely that all parties involved will likely benefit equally.
Nashville has a great 2C and solidified its center depth for a long time, Ottawa adds a better impact player, and Colorado got a ton of assets. Everybody got what they needed.
402 people are very confused. Poile made out like a bandit.
The last two years of Turris’ deal might not be pretty but the Preds will contend for the next half decade if they get the goaltending.
The more I think about it, the more I think that Colorado didn’t make out as good as a lot of people think. They got a lot of more low ceiling things rather than a high impact one.
Yeah but their hands were tied with a guy that was obviously on the open market and therefore his price reduced a bit because of it. They dropped a guy that didn’t want to be there and added potential. And with potential you won’t know what you have for awhile.
It depends. If your talking right this very second…then Ottawa gets the nod. Barely. But remember, in two years will Ottawa be able to sign Duchene AND Karlsson?
Over all, I think at the end of the season, Nashville will be considered to have won. They got Kyle Turris for a second round pick. Would you trade a second round pick for Kyle Turris? Yes please.
Colorado did what they had to do.
Nashville traded a second rounder and two prospects. Still a decent trade for them, but they probably could’ve added another pick/prospect and just snagged Duchene.