If it was up to Nathan MacKinnon, Matt Duchene will be playing for the Avalanche when they open the 2017-18 regular season against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Oct. 5.
"Dutchie is a great player and we'd love to have him back," MacKinnon told NHL.com during the league's media tour. "Like I've said before, I'm not the GM. I just play with whoever is on the team.
"Obviously, he has been a good player for us for the four years I've played with him and he's been in the NHL for eight years now. If he's on the team, that would be great, and right now he is, so moving forward, we're with him."
As every hockey fan who hasn't been stuck in a cave knows, Duchene has been mentioned prominently in trade speculation since before last season's trade deadline. General manager Joe Sakic has been seeking, at a minimum, a top-four defenseman and a high draft pick in return.
Duchene, 26, is coming off an 18-goal, 41-point season after scoring a career-high 30 goals the previous season. The Avalanche had a league-worst 22 wins and 48 points, and have missed the playoffs three years in a row.
They still haven't re-signed defenseman Nikita Zadorov, a restricted free agent who could wind up in the KHL.
After attending the wedding of a friend in Vail, Colo., last weekend, Duchene returned to the Toronto area to skate rather than take part with the rest of the Avalanche veterans in voluntary practices in Colorado this week.
Veterans are scheduled to report for training camp Sept. 14, and it isn't known if Duchene, who has two years left on his contract at $6 million per, will show up.
MacKinnon said he talked to Duchene "a little bit" over the summer and expects him to report if he isn't traded before then.
"I do," MacKinnon said. "He's got two years left on his contract, so I assume he'll be at camp. I don't know. I don't know what's going on with that.
"Any of us can be traded, so it's not like it's a contract holdout. So there's nothing to be settled. It's just if Joe wants to trade him. I hear all the same things you guys do. I don't have any scoops."
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Tyson Jost, J.T. Compher, Andrei Mironov, A.J. Greer and recently signed college free agents Alex Kerfoot and Dominic Toninato are among the 28 Avalanche rookies who will attend a one-day camp Friday at Family Sports Center in Centennial, Colo., and take part in a four-team tournament in San Jose.
Show us what ya got! pic.twitter.com/9KTDMoiuWZ
— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) August 25, 2017
The group will practice at 10 a.m. MT.
The round-robin tournament is Sept. 9-12 with rookies competing from the Sharks, Anaheim Ducks and Arizona Coyotes.