Trevor Shackles: Matt Duchene Contract Talks Starting Up Pat Brisson is talking with Pierre Dorion

Signing bonus likely isn't for buyout protection, but is more likely for lockout protection.

I think Duchene is asking for closer to JT's $11M right now. There's no reason yet for him to settle, as it's early in the game. Worst case for him, OTT balks, and he either comes down, or gets somewhere close to $11M in July (because yes, as a UFA on July 1, Duchene would get close). #1 centers don't become available often.

I think Duchene is asking for closer to JT's $11M right now. There's no reason yet for him to settle, as it's early in the game. Worst case for him, OTT balks, and he either comes down, or gets somewhere close to $11M in July (because yes, as a UFA on July 1, Duchene would get close). #1 centers don't become available often.
- isles10289

You’re INSANE. I love duchene......he isn’t worth close to 11 and zero chance anyone gives him close to that. Career high 70pts and you think he’s getting north of 9?

Dzingle often gets lost in the shuffle of these conversations. If he's unsigned at the deadline, do they trade him? What could they get back ?

You’re INSANE. I love duchene......he isn’t worth close to 11 and zero chance anyone gives him close to that. Career high 70pts and you think he’s getting north of 9?
- sensarmy_11

While I agree, if he stays on pace for a PPG, it will make the conversation interesting.

Considering how crazy the owner has been acting due to losing lots of $$$ insanely fast, it would be crazy for them to re sign Duchene. It's time for a rebuild. I'm surprised he hasn't been moved already. I say it's Duchene to Canucks for Tyler Motte and Jonathon Dahlen. Duchene gets flipped with Baertschi to Canes for their 1st round pick. But it is Ottawa They blow insane amounts of tax payers $$$ everyday.

The Sens will have potentially 6 forward spots open next july 1. The owner already said expect a rebuild and they lied in the media earlier when they put Zack Smith on waivers and justified it saying it was performance based. They wanted to dump his $3 + million cap hit for the next 3 years. Players' salaries keep going up and many times their production plummets once they get the Lotto Max deal with the no trade clause.

Duchene will likely get resigned at close to 8 millions per year.He's in his prime years and look at his best he ever was.Fantastic center who skate fast enough that his decline wont be that bad at all.Always been healthy player as well.He make players around him better and dont need good players around him to produce since he create plays and scoring chances by himself.

Same with Stone who's in pace for career year.Will get around 8 millions or so per year too.Dzingel would cost around 4.5-5 millions per year.Dcorp is in good shape contract wise except ceci who will need a new contract.Thus far he's not in position to ask for much more than he's already earning so we shall see about that.


Pyatt,paajarvi both can go for cheaper young players.Also think that one of Smith and Pageau will need to go.

Signing bonus likely isn't for buyout protection, but is more likely for lockout protection.
- charlest

Fair, that too

Both should be signed long-term for something between 7.5-8.5M aav. If they're asking for more ship them out and get the 1st rounders + prospects. Ideally you keep them both because although Ottawa has a lot of good young players, they need veteran leadership.

Next few seasons:

Forward Core: Stone, Duchene, Tkachuk, White, Batherson + Brown/Chlapik

Defensive Core: Chabot, Lajoie, Wolanin, Jaros + JBD/Tychonick

Need a goaltender to replace Anderson, or at least a capable backup.

I think Duchene is asking for closer to JT's $11M right now. There's no reason yet for him to settle, as it's early in the game. Worst case for him, OTT balks, and he either comes down, or gets somewhere close to $11M in July (because yes, as a UFA on July 1, Duchene would get close). #1 centers don't become available often.
- isles10289

Duchene is nowhere close to Tavares. There is no way he'll get 11 million per.

Duchene is nowhere close to Tavares. There is no way he'll get 11 million per.
- RogerRoeper

I hate long term retirement deals. I have always despised the Bobby Ryan deal. It is not the money. It is the term. I have no difficulty with young guys (McDavid) cashing in. If you are going to pay a guy $12m a season do it through his prime years.

Most NHL players experience a significant fall off from peak production around age 26. The players who usually experience the largest fall off are the ones who are the poorest mechanical skaters (Bobby Ryan). The players who do best in limiting the production decline are the good mechanical skaters (Patrick Marleau).

John Tavares is an okay skater, but not strong in his mechanics. Matt Duchene is a very strong technical skater. Duchene will likely surpass Tavares this year in production output. Long term Duchene is probably the better signing signing option by a long way. But a long term deal of $11m will prove painful by the 3rd or 4th year.

.

I was worried when they sent Formenton back down to junior. Sometimes when superior skilled guys are sent down they are not able to recover their previous levels of output. Lots of reasons for this. They get heavy defensive attention, they don't play with a skilled set up player and they can get targeted for physical intimidation.

So far so good with Formenton, he scored 5 goals over the weekend and now has 6 goals in 6 games.

I hate long term retirement deals. I have always despised the Bobby Ryan deal. It is not the money. It is the term. I have no difficulty with young guys (McDavid) cashing in. If you are going to pay a guy $12m a season do it through his prime years.

Most NHL players experience a significant fall off from peak production around age 26. The players who usually experience the largest fall off are the ones who are the poorest mechanical skaters (Bobby Ryan). The players who do best in limiting the production decline are the good mechanical skaters (Patrick Marleau).

John Tavares is an okay skater, but not strong in his mechanics. Matt Duchene is a very strong technical skater. Duchene will likely surpass Tavares this year in production output. Long term Duchene is probably the better signing signing option by a long way. But a long term deal of $11m will prove painful by the 3rd or 4th year.

.
- spatso

Duchene is less than a year younger than Tavares FYI. And he only has 1 more point more.
Let's see Matt get more than his career high of 70 points before we annoint him some superstar.

While I agree, if he stays on pace for a PPG, it will make the conversation interesting.
- david22

listen, I love Duchene, but even if he remains at a PPG...that's ONE TIME that he's been a ppg player. zero chance that earns him an 11 mil deal.

He'll get around 8 years for somewhere between 68-72mil.....and I would expect Stoner to get a similar deal.

I'd be happy with both guys earning 8 years x 9 mil

Duchene is less than a year younger than Tavares FYI. And he only has 1 more point more.
Let's see Matt get more than his career high of 70 points before we annoint him some superstar.
- RogerRoeper

ummmm, Tavares is a year older yes....but he has 120 more pts, not 1, and he's done it in 5 less games.

like I said, I love Duchene but he's not on the same level as Tavares


edit: sorry, you were referring to production this year, my bad

If they keep playing good hockey they have a good chance at re-signing both those players and they should. With the young players coming up and those two first line spots taken care of the Sens are looking pretty good way sooner than people thought.

Lose them both for nothing though and it's pretty much full rebuild time(another 2-3 years maybe)

I hate long term retirement deals. I have always despised the Bobby Ryan deal. It is not the money. It is the term. I have no difficulty with young guys (McDavid) cashing in. If you are going to pay a guy $12m a season do it through his prime years.

Most NHL players experience a significant fall off from peak production around age 26. The players who usually experience the largest fall off are the ones who are the poorest mechanical skaters (Bobby Ryan). The players who do best in limiting the production decline are the good mechanical skaters (Patrick Marleau).

John Tavares is an okay skater, but not strong in his mechanics. Matt Duchene is a very strong technical skater. Duchene will likely surpass Tavares this year in production output. Long term Duchene is probably the better signing signing option by a long way. But a long term deal of $11m will prove painful by the 3rd or 4th year.

.
- spatso

thanks for the Monday morning Laughs! Tavares is way better than I thought he'd be when he came to Toronto and I thought he would be amazing! Now he plays with extremely talented players. The best years of his career are now and in the future!

If they keep playing good hockey they have a good chance at re-signing both those players and they should. With the young players coming up and those two first line spots taken care of the Sens are looking pretty good way sooner than people thought.

Lose them both for nothing though and it's pretty much full rebuild time(another 2-3 years maybe)
- Njuice

if they lose both Duchene and Stone for nothing....that time line is generous.

I have to imagine that if they aren't signed by the TDL then they're as good as traded. The chances of Ottawa being in the playoff race at that point are minimal, and hopefully they'll have a good idea of their intentions at that point. the worst thing that could happen is that they pull what the Isles did, and lose superstars for nothing. that would be an epic disaster. the return for those 2 players, even as rentals, would be ridiculous.....they'd easily be the 2 best players available. teams would pay out the ass to get them.

thanks for the Monday morning Laughs! Tavares is way better than I thought he'd be when he came to Toronto and I thought he would be amazing! Now he plays with extremely talented players. The best years of his career are now and in the future!
- Njuice

in terms of team success....you're definitely right

in terms of his personal performance......I'm doubtful. it's VERY rare that you see a players performance improve at the age of 28 or 29. if his production does improve it will likely be due to him having better linemates, not him playing better hockey. either way, it's good for the leafs.

I do agree that Spatso's post was ridiculous.

No way they flip a legit #1 center to Vancouver, especially for a guy they already traded away in Jonathan Dahlen.

I hate long term retirement deals. I have always despised the Bobby Ryan deal. It is not the money. It is the term. I have no difficulty with young guys (McDavid) cashing in. If you are going to pay a guy $12m a season do it through his prime years.

Most NHL players experience a significant fall off from peak production around age 26. The players who usually experience the largest fall off are the ones who are the poorest mechanical skaters (Bobby Ryan). The players who do best in limiting the production decline are the good mechanical skaters (Patrick Marleau).

John Tavares is an okay skater, but not strong in his mechanics. Matt Duchene is a very strong technical skater. Duchene will likely surpass Tavares this year in production output. Long term Duchene is probably the better signing signing option by a long way. But a long term deal of $11m will prove painful by the 3rd or 4th year.

.
- spatso

I mean...ok.
We have seen you say some things ...and look very foolish later on... so why not add some more

I mean...ok.
We have seen you say some things ...and look very foolish later on... so why not add some more
- senstroll

pretty sure we don't need to wait until "later on"......that statement makes him look foolish right now

pretty sure we don't need to wait until "later on"......that statement makes him look foolish right now
- sensarmy_11

You guys all said the same thing when I cautioned about signing Bobby Ryan or Jason Spezza to extensions. This is not rocket science. Players who have great wheels can play well into their 30's. But players who have a hitch in their stride or are just not good technical skaters hit a wall when they lose a step.

Dany Heatley and Jason Spezza are guys who lost a step and overnight they looked old and slow. Unless you have that skating edge most players will experience huge production drops starting around age 28-29.

By contrast Daniel Alfredssen was a great skater and was still a huge talent well into his mid 30's.

I love Mark Stone. But, even a novice fan can see his skating mechanics are problematic once he loses that step to age.

It is in the context of skaters like Heatley, Spezza, Ryan etc., you need to look at the long term rationale of signing Tavares and Stone to long term deals.

Duchene fits more into the image of Marleau and Alfredssen.