Blue Jackets pre-season gets underway tonight, giving everyone their first real look at Artemi Panarin in the Union Blue. Most seasons that would be the biggest story surrounding the Jackets, but not this season. The biggest story right now, with the exception of all the stuff going on with Josh Anderson, is Matt Duchene and his future with the Colorado Avalanche.
Last week we learned from Elliotte Friedman that the Jackets had made a
very strong offer for Duchene, but the Avalanche and Joe Sakic don’t like it enough. I had suggested that the Jackets should either up their offer slightly or wait and see if Duchene and the rumours become a distraction at camp. It appears waiting was the right decision. Duchene doesn’t seem too impressed to be back in Colorado.
With this being the big story of the pre-season it seems like every insider is covering it and we’re getting new information every day. Yesterday Pierre LeBrun and Darren Dreger did a radio hit on Edmonton’s TSN 1260 and had plenty of information regarding the Jackets and Duchene. Quote transcriptions from
Fanrag Sports.
LeBrun:
“I think Columbus has shown a lot of interest. I know there are other teams as well. But again, what other teams have offered so far clearly hasn’t been at the level of what Joe Sakic wants.
“So I think what you have to gauge if you’re Joe Sakic is to you just take your best offer and cut the cord – part of it for the sake of being able to move on as a group – or do you hold on until someone steps up to what you believe he’s worth.”
“And maybe I’m wrong. But when I talk to other teams – and listen, the Columbus Blue Jackets, I think they view him as the missing piece on a very good hockey team. And they’re not alone. There’s other teams too.”
The Jackets have a strong team already, without Duchene. On paper this looks like a playoff team so they don’t necessarily need Duchene. Adding him though brings the team up to a whole new level and firmly cements the Blue Jackets as contenders. That would give them a strong one-two punch down the middle of Alexander Wennberg and Duchene, and while it’s not Crosby-Malkin or Backstrom-Kuznetsov, it is very good and would give the Jackets a level of offense they haven’t had before. Over the last four seasons Duchene has scored 92 goals and 225 points, totals that rank him 11th and 19th among centres. This is a top flight centre and the Jackets would have the luxury of having him as their number two behind Wennberg.
Dreger had similar thoughts on the situation the Avalanche are in:
“But I also think that at some point soon, very soon, Sakic is going to have to realize that maybe the best deal is already past, right, and what’s best for the organization now is just remove the distraction.”
This is why the Jackets waited and they were smart to do so. The time to negotiate was in the summer and it seems like the Avs may have overplayed their hand and could end up getting even less for Duchene than what they could of got in the summer. Dreger also tried to piece together what the Blue Jackets might be offering:
“I still hear rumblings of the Columbus Blue Jackets being as likely as any team, and I know that there are still a few teams that are keenly interested in Matt Duchene. But when I look at some of the goings on in Columbus, it does make some sense. You’ve got Ryan Murray there, who – he hasn’t been able to stay healthy with the Blue Jackets. Because of that, maybe there’s – I don’t know – it’s just a sense that there’s time for change. You’ve got Josh Anderson there, who I think is a real good young player – he can’t seem to lure the Blue Jackets into a real good contract negotiation, something that they’re both satisfied with.”
“Well there’s two elements that could be part of a trade scenario,” chuckled Dreger, “And maybe Jarmo Kekalainen can kick in another piece or two and get this thing settled."
This is the first time anyone has mentioned Josh Anderson in a possible trade. We’ve known all summer that a defencemen was what Colorado was asking for and figured they would have interest in Ryan Murray, his name is no surprise here. Anderson is a surprise, but it makes sense. The Jackets value Anderson highly so I would imagine other teams do as well. And while the contract situation is not as hostile as it was with Ryan Johansen, Anderson may be slowly starting to fall out of favour with the organization. If someone steps up in camp and can fill that void on the third line, Anderson could be expendable.
Murray and Anderson alone is not enough. The third piece would need to be something fairly significant. For the Jackets though it would be worth it. They have a good team and have the pieces and cap space to add another top flight player. This is a team that has never made it out of the first round, they have a chance to not only do that this year, but could very easily make some noise in the East. Matt Duchene could be the missing piece that makes this a reality.
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