The NHL trading deadline is Wednesday at 3 p.m. ET, two hours after the Avalanche are scheduled to practice in Ottawa for the second game of a three-game road trip that begins Tuesday in Philadelphia.
It's a particularly anxious time for the Avalanche, who have the worst record in the league (17-40-3) and who have a number of players, most notably
Matt Duchene and
Gabriel Landeskog, who have been mentioned in rumors for the past several weeks.
"I have no control over it, it's just whatever happens, happens," Duchene said Monday after practice, before the team flight to Philadelphia. "I don't know what's coming, but we'll see. Obviously I'm prepared for anything, but right now I'm just focusing on getting to Philly tonight and preparing for the game tomorrow."
Would he prefer to remain with the Avalanche, who drafted him in 2009 with the third overall pick?
"Yeah... I mean, I want to win," he answered. "Whatever it takes for that to happen, that's what I want. That's my answer, I guess. It's out of my control. I've made clear my opinion in the past, that's kind of the way it's staying."
Duchene leads the Avalanche with 16 goals -- he has one in the past 17 games -- and is second in scoring behind
Nathan MacKinnon with 36 points in 55 games. General manager
Joe Sakic has said that MacKinnon,
Mikko Rantanen and 2016 first-round pick
Tyson Jost are Colorado's only "untouchables."
Duchene said it's been difficult concentrating on hockey as his name has been mentioned in one rumor after another.
"It's hard," he said. "It's harder when you're away from the rink. At home, days off, your mind wanders or whatever. When I'm at the rink around the guys, it's easy to get immersed in that and just get ready for the game tomorrow."
Whatever happens, Duchene said he'll be relieved once the deadline passes.
"Yeah, absolutely," he said. "It's hard to look past three days from now. You can't really look past that because I just don't know where I'm going to be, so we'll see what happens."
Landeskog feels the same way. He was the second overall pick in the 2011 draft, won the Calder Trophy in 2011-12 and is in his fifth season as team captain. He has 13 goals and 26 points in 50 games; he ended a seven-game goal drought with two goals Saturday in a 5-3 win against Buffalo.
"I don't know how many hours we have left (before the deadline), but just hoping these next couple days go by quick," he said. "I think all we can really focus on is Philly and how we prepare for that game."
Landeskog said he tries to avoid reading or hearing about trade speculation as much as possible.
"It's easier said than done, but at the same time I don't read much, I don't watch much," he said. "Really, the only things that I really hear are things that people text or call me about. Usually my closest friends and family know not to do that unless it's really important.
"So really, I'm not in the loop much. I don't read that stuff. To me, it's more outside noise as far as rumors go. If something was to go down, I'm sure I'd hear about it. My focus is on beating the Flyers tomorrow.
"I don't feel the need to read all that, I don't feel the need to watch
NHL Network all the time. It's more of, I've got other things going on and better things to focus on. We'll see what happens. Hoping the next couple days go by quick. I know a bunch of us in this room have seen our names in rumors and whatnot, but it's the business."
Coach
Jared Bednar said he thinks players have handled the rumors pretty well.
"It's one of those things you have to deal with when we are where we are in the standings," he said. "The rumors are the rumors, they come months early in some cases and they don't go away, but I think when you approach a deadline, the last couple days there's a little bit of nervous energy and anxiety around the room for certain.
"That's probably for everyone, every team, even the teams that are in the playoffs because they're anxious if they're going to get something or do something as well. I think with us, we've been dealing with the rumors for quite some time, so it's still all they are. I think that our guys have done a good job handling the outside noise that's been coming our way."
Once the deadline passes, Bednar said, players can relax and turn all of their attention to finishing the season.
"Because then there's no uncertainty towards the future to the end of the season," he said. "You know you have your guys and they can focus on playing the remaining games instead of having that looming over them."
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