No doubt about it! Dutch is a player that still has a long time ahead of him and I think he'll still be an excellent player in this league.
- Fols19

Exactly, hes only 24 and has a decade of meaningful hockey to play still. I think hes a guy at a crossroads in his career. Starting to shift from that future face of the franchise to a core piece. Its Mack and Landys team, they are the horses that drive the offense.

Dutch is still a big cog of it, but he shouldnt be the leading scorer on the team with those guys on board. Especially once they add Rantanen to the mix full time. I have the belief if Duchene starts to mold his game more after stastny, with the defensive duties and stop worrying about 70pt seasons, its going to be much easier for him.

And that goes even further to my 'JUST FOR FUN' post about Duchene's draft with Kane slotted behind him, I forgot to even mention Stastny. It's no wonder we haven't really turned the corner yet, we've invested a whole whack of effort in the middle of the ice.

Stastny, Duchene, ROR all before even knowing that Mackinnon was going to fall into our laps.

Yikes.....maybe that's why we're stuck watching Holden, Guenin, and Stuart
- Fols19

I did a what ifs hockeyscap team if Stastny didnt leave
https://hockeyscap.com/armchair-gm/team/39552

Still lots to tinkering around to do, but with all the rumoured deals the avs tried, I put together the best case scenario if they all went down.

If Stastny didnt leave this team would still be flying since they just dont have that C to match up with teams top lines defensively, Thats what Roy is trying to do with Soderberg but its not there yet. I do believe they still have all the horses to get the job done currently, jut is probably is going to be hard to watch hockey until mid season until it all comes together

but lets be clear here, Dutch is clear cut on a different level than those 2, even if hes not reaching his project potential, hes still a clear cut 1B Center, however you cant say that about schenn or kadri.

It comes down to with Dutch is that with the leaving of Stastny, Avs no longer have a C to handle shut down defensive duties. Stastny carried that load and that allowed Dutch to wheel and deal. Now that Mack is here, hes the guy thats going to have the offence built around.

Dutch needs to adopt his game a bit since times have changed, he will have to start sacrificing offense for defense. Still love the kid on my team.
- DDM-Coga

Living in the Atlantic time zone means I don't get to see the avs play very often. I also think Duchene is a cut above those two. But the gap isn't as wide as I thought it would be when they were drafted.