It was no secret the Blue Jackets were heavily involved in talks to acquire Matt Duchene. All summer the rumours were flying and they carried over into the season. We had heard that the Jackets had a strong offer on the table, but Joe Sakic and the Avalanche wanted more, and they got more. Credit has to be given to the Colorado front office they were patient and eventually their asking price was met.
The Jackets didn’t have the right pieces to fit into this three-way trade. They didn’t have a centre to trade to Nashville and didn’t want to give up a defencemen on an entry-level contract.
The Jackets could have made this trade, but it would of cost them likely Gabriel Carlsson, Sonny Milano, maybe Vitali Abramov and their first three draft picks. That’s a huge price for any team to pay and you see why three teams had to be involved. Obviously Columbus would have liked to have got Duchene, but seeing the price he went for, they are better off looking at other options.
What are those other options? One option for them was Kyle Turris but that ship too, has sailed. As of right now it doesn’t sound like the Jackets have much on the table. From Elliotte Friedman’s
31 Thoughts:
7. In one move, two of the biggest trade possibilities were removed from the NHL chessboard. As one exec was saying Monday, “What happens if Vegas stays in the race and the owner decides he wants to make the playoffs?”
Something always shakes loose, but it means there’s nothing obvious right now for the likes of Columbus (which may have been in on both players) and Pittsburgh (hovering around Duchene). I still think Edmonton may be the next team to try something, but not as earth shattering as we just saw.
Edmonton is the team everyone is looking at now to make a move. Big things were expected from them and they sit near the bottom of the standings. The name that has always seemed to be floating around has been Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. If the Jackets want to upgrade at centre Nugent-Hopkins would be a good fit.
He’s not quite as good as Duchene but he's comparable. This is a player whose production has tapered off the past two seasons, but he’s only 24 and already has three 50+ point seasons. He might not be Duchene but if the Oilers are going to make a panic move, Nugent-Hopkins would be a nice player to go after.
The Jackets could also just stay the course and ride it out until Lukas Sedlak returns. The last four games have seen Pierre-Luc Dubois playing centre, and while the team has went 1-2-1 in those contests, it’s not been because of Dubois. Over the last four games Dubois is third on the Jackets with a 66.67% Corsi at 5 on 5 per
Natural Stat Trick, behind Gabriel Carlsson who played just one game and Markus Hannikainen whose played just 19:34 over three.
In that time frame Dubois has been on the ice for five goals for and two against. He’s been on the ice for 36 scoring chances for and nine against. His 80% scoring chance for percentage leads all NHL players over the last four games, a whopping 10.77% higher than Jeff Skinner who ranks second. It’s a small sample for sure and Dubois has been helped by getting 74.19% of his starts in the offensive zone, but still this is great to see. It gives hope that maybe the Jackets aren’t as doomed at centre as we all thought.
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