Colorado Avalanche center Matt Duchene wasn't at the team's captain practice and it raised eyebrows. It has also reignited his trade talk as well.
Last week, TSN's Darren Dreger spoke of Duchene and his relationship with agent Pat Brisson. He discussed the possible plan of action heading into training camp.
Now Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman is weighing in on the saga. Friedman spoke to Sportsnet 590 and spent most of the segment talking about the Avalanche forward.
“It’s interesting with Duchene,” Friedman said. “I think there were times that I thought he got pretty close to being traded, then Colorado pulled back. I know there was a conversation after July 1 last year where they told Duchene through his agent, Pat Brisson, that he should expect the possibility of coming back to Colorado next year and starting the year there.
“I get the sense there have been some renewed efforts to try to trade him. I think Columbus is very much in there. I think they were a team that very aggressively tried to close the deal right around the beginning of July last year and didn’t do so.
“I know there are some teams who have felt that Colorado is being especially stubborn on what they wanted. I think the Avalanche look at it like, ‘Hey, we made a deal with Ryan O’Reilly that didn’t turn out as great as we hoped and we have to make sure we get this right.’
“I know that Colorado has also been looking young, young, young. They’ve really wanted young players in exchange for Duchene, guys that were controllable for a long time."
While the parameters of the desired trade are nothing new, the fact that talks have reignited with the Blue Jackets is a major development.
#TSN Trade Bait: There seems to be growing suspicion Matt Duchene may not report to #Avs camp. More here: https://t.co/P4U4WzCJMN #TSNHockey pic.twitter.com/QlHcvd4meQ
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) September 6, 2017
Less than two weeks away from training camp starting and a month away from opening night, Duchene is currently caught in no-man's land. This ongoing conversation has to reach its natural end point.
