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More on the Blue Jackets and Matt Duchene |
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In the introduction to the now 31 Thoughts Elliotte Friedman laid out everything that’s surrounding Matt Duchene and the Avalanche.
The key part for Blue Jackets fans came in the third paragraph.
“It seems certain Colorado could make a deal with Columbus very quickly. The Blue Jackets have been in this for a while, and it is believed they thought they were close to getting Duchene a couple of times. Sakic knows what Columbus is willing to offer, but they don’t like it enough.”
The Jackets have made a very strong offer to Colorado but it seems to not quite be enough at this point. The Avs are smart to shop Duchene around especially with teams like Nashville and Carolina interested as Friedman mentions, but as of right now Colorado hasn’t received a better offer.
It’s no secret the Avalanche want defencemen and Friedman thinks they covet Noah Hanifin from Carolina. The Jackets don’t have a defencemen like that, but Gabriel Carlsson could become that type of defencemen. We don’t know for certain but it’s not hard to imagine one of if not both Carlsson and/or Ryan Murray is in the Blue Jackets offer. These are the Jackets young defencemen that are somewhat expendable, as there is no chance the team is moving Seth Jones or Zach Werenski.
The Jackets are smart here as well to wait out Colorado. They have presented a strong offer and have to wait to see if the Avs budge. If Duchene doesn’t report to training camp (something that seems unlikely at this point) or if these trade rumours become a distraction at camp the Avs may give in and accept the Blue Jackets offer.
If not the Blue Jackets should consider raising their offer slightly to get a deal done. When they acquired Artemi Panarin they made it clear they wanted to make a serious playoff run in the next two seasons. Their window is open, and with Zach Werenski on his entry-level deal they have a star defencemen making well below what he is worth. The team needs to pot commit and go all-in. That means trading for Duchene, making a splashy trade deadline acquisition, they need to be doing what they can to make this team a Stanley Cup contender.
The division is a tough one, with the back-to-back Stanley Cup champions and the reigning Presidents Trophy winners but the time is right for the Jackets to make a push before it’s too late. Carolina with its collection of young talent looks ready to make a run very soon, New Jersey and Philadelphia will be looking to make a big push soon too, while they have Nico Hischer and Nolan Patrick on ELC’s.
Looking to the future is over, the future is right now.
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@PaulBerthelot
Columbus Blue Jackets Blogger • 
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