5 Reasons Matt Duchene Should Pick New Jersey Devils
By Nick Villano
Matt Duchene is set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1st. The New Jersey Devils may not make sense on paper, but they could make perfect sense with a little convincing.
Matt Duchene is best known for forcing his way out of Colorado after claiming he wanted to be on a contender. He was then traded to the Ottawa Senators for a king’s ransom, a trade the Sens will regret for the better part of the next decade. The Sens are about to get the best possible odds to get the 1st-overall pick in this year’s draft, but now that pick will go to the Colorado Avalanche. So, with that being said, why would this guy be a fit for the New Jersey Devils?
Duchene is a great player who plays a Devils position of need; center. He’s since been traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets in one of the most obvious one-year pushes in history. He was one of the few bright spots on the Senators, scoring 58 points in 50 games this season. He took a little bit to get going in Columbus, but he’s hit his stride as of late.
He’s actually had a strange career, and he could break his career high in goals with just one more before season’s end. This is only his second ever 30-goal season in his 10-year career. That’s right, Duchene has been in the NHL for a full decade.
He was taken 3rd overall in the 2009 NHL Draft, made the team the very next season, and has been an NHL regular ever since.
The big question now is why would Duchene pick the Devils? If he says he wants a winner, then why would he choose a team that’s made the playoffs once in the past seven seasons? That doesn’t seem to make sense. Well, there’s quite a few reasons why it might happen, but we’ve whittled them down to five.
Ray Shero Makes Him Believe “The Process”
This may be the most important part of this entire situation. There’s no chance in NJ Devil’s hometown that Matt Duchene will sign on the dotted line with a Devils crest on top if he thinks recent history is what he’s in for. He has his choice of playing with whatever franchise that can afford him. With the salary cap going up again, expect the line of suitors to be long.
Ray Shero has a short-term and long-term plan for this team. He’s talked about it at length in interviews without actually giving any details about the plan. He’s spoken with Taylor Hall about his plan, and everything we’ve seen is he’s 100 percent on board. Obviously, if he doesn’t sign his own extension that says a lot, but that’s yet to be seen at this point.
If Shero can convince Duchene that his plan is a winning one, he could convince him to commit to the Devils. There’s a lot of options in this year’s free agency class. If Duchene’s options dwindle, he could see “the process” of Shero as his best bet to be on a winner for a long time. Especially if the Devils get another top-two pick in the NHL Draft, he could see himself as the final piece of the puzzle. Speaking of which…