{"id":766919,"date":"2017-11-08T13:28:13","date_gmt":"2017-11-08T18:28:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/?p=766919"},"modified":"2022-01-07T12:54:53","modified_gmt":"2022-01-07T16:54:53","slug":"assessing-the-matt-duchene-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/assessing-the-matt-duchene-trade\/","title":{"rendered":"Assessing the Matt Duchene Trade"},"content":{"rendered":"
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So the Ottawa Senators acquired Matt Duchene ahead of their overseas trip to Sweden where they will take on his former team the Colorado Avalanche as part of the NHL\u2019s Global Series<\/em>?<\/p>\n Pencil him in for 14 goals right now.<\/p>\n After seeing his name bandied about in rumours for the past two years, Duchene finally moved on joining the Ottawa Senators Sunday night in what has to be considered the biggest trade that Senators general manager Pierre Dorion has ever made.<\/p>\n Dorion has never been shy to make a deal.<\/p>\n Since inheriting the general manager\u2019s role, he has been one of the most active managers in the league, but never has he made a deal of this magnitude before.<\/p>\n It could not have been easy for him to have these trade talks die late on Friday night, but it is a testament to his creativity and the amount of time that he invested to bring Duchene into the fold to have these negotiations culminate in a deal less than 48 hours later.<\/p>\n Here is how the trade breaks down:<\/p>\n Shane Bowers is the prospect that the Senators drafted with the 28th<\/sup> overall pick in the first round of the 2017 NHL Draft.<\/p>\n At the time of his selection, a few pundits described Bowers as a safe<\/em> pick and in his first season at Boston University, where he has four goals and six points in 10 games for the Terriers, he has struggled to change the perception of his upside.<\/p>\n Recently, The Athletic<\/em>\u2019s Corey Pronman wrote the following:<\/p>\n \u201cBowers is a player who is tough to get a read on. I don\u2019t think any scout I talk to hates him, but the question is can he be on your power play in the NHL or is he a safe two-way forward at the top level. \u2018He\u2019s got a lot of talent and a great work ethic, he plays physical and goes to the dirty areas,\u2019 said Boston University\u2019s coach David Quinn. Those latter elements give hope that, even if he doesn\u2019t become a dominant scorer, he can still find a way to carve out a role as a pro.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n The money is essentially a wash.<\/p>\n Andrew Hammond is in the last year of his three-year contract that pays him $1.5-million. Before signing a six-year, $36-million contract extension with the Nashville Predators, Kyle Turris was earning $4.0-million in real dollars ($3.5-million cap hit) in the last year of his contract.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a little odd to see Turris sign a relatively modest contract given the reports that he was looking for a seven or eight year contract worth between $40 to $50-million depending on the length of the deal, but the lack of state income taxes in Tennessee can help explain how much Turris benefits financially from this move.<\/p>\n According to the GavinGroup.ca<\/a>\u2019s salary tax calculator, Turris is saving approximately $846,014 per year or $5,076,084 over the length of his new contract extension.<\/p>\n Aside from the prospects, Matt Duchene was the only player involved who actually had any term remaining on his current deal. He is signed through 2018-19 and has a cap hit of $6.0-million. Duchene will earn $6.0-million this season and $6.5-million in real salary next season.<\/p>\n Many, including The Athletic\u2019s James Gordon, have lauded the deal and their rationalization is straightforward.<\/p>\n For the Senators to land Duchene, unquestionably the best player in this deal, without giving up any of their best prospects — Logan Brown, Colin White, Thomas Chabot, Alex Formenton, Filip Chlapik or even an emerging Drake Batherson \u2013 makes for a pretty compelling argument and that\u2019s before one even considers the extra year of team control that the Senators get now with Duchene.<\/p>\n Perhaps most importantly, the addition of Duchene reflects the kind of win-now move that the Senators should be expected to make, especially since Erik Karlsson is only under team control through the 2018-19 season and the Senators have one of the oldest rosters<\/a> in the league.<\/p>\n Mark Stone is also owed a new contract at the end of this season and with only three defencemen under contract through 2018-19<\/a>, the pressure is not only the organization to win now, but also make enough noise that it can compel Karlsson to want to commit to this club for the long haul.<\/p>\n Following Duchene\u2019s introductory press conference, Dorion participated in a short media scrum<\/a> and spoke directly to the predicament facing the organization and retaining its generational franchise defencemen.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we have arguably one of the best players in the league in Erik Karlsson. On some nights, he\u2019s the best player and on other nights, he\u2019s in the top two, three, four, six or top-ten. I think while we have him here, we have to show him and the other guys that we\u2019re ready to do whatever it takes for us to take that next step<\/em>.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Even with Duchene in the mix, taking that next step will be a challenge.<\/p>\n Few pundits and fans would disagree with the assertion that Duchene is an upgrade on Turris, but beyond focusing exclusively on the short-term benefits of the trade, there\u2019s a lot more to digest here.<\/p>\n Can the addition of Duchene alone be enough to take this team to a different level or are other additions necessary to help the team achieve their goal?<\/p>\n If so, how much wiggle room is left within the internal budget to make more additions?<\/p>\n Although Clarke MacArthur\u2019s LTIR status and the accompanying insurance coverage will take care of most of the $4.75-million in real salary that is owed to MacArthur, it does not take a genius to realize that the Senators moved a draft pick to ensure that the Avalanche would pick up the tab on the remainder of Andrew Hammond\u2019s contract. (As an aside, how sad is it that Hammond expressed his excitement in a released statement<\/a> on Twitter regarding his opportunity to be healthy and play for another organization only for him to be loaned by the Avalanche back to Belleville<\/a>.)<\/p>\n It\u2019s entirely possible that the Senators cleared Hammond\u2019s salary off of the books to create more financial flexibility down the road when the Senators are closer to the NHL trade deadline, but with the way Dorion kicked off Duchene\u2019s introductory press conference by thanking Eugene Melnyk, my concern is that taking on an additional $500,000 in this trade is a bigger deal than many are making it out to be.<\/p>\n\n