San Jose and the Duchene Sweepstakes

Here in Canada, our ESPN equivalent is TSN (The Sports Network) except with 100000% more hockey and 100000% less college sports. There are specific hockey dedicated shows and the regular sports highlight shows have hockey segments. One of these segments, which also appears during game broadcasts at intermission, is Insider Trading.

Insider Trading is basically a host with 2-3 hockey experts/insiders. Today they had Darren Dreger, Pierre LeBrun, and Bob McKenzie. Most people would say McKenzie is the most distinguished and he has been around a while and is definitely a legend in hockey media. When he breaks a rumour or trade, you know it’s legit.

Tonight, McKenzie made it clear what the Colorado Avalanche are asking for Matt Duchene. Earlier this week, I wrote about trade targets and specifically what a Duchene trade might look like. You can check it out here.

So what is the price you ask? Well, it’s serious and steep. McKenzie laid out the case about two different scenarios.

Scenario 1: Three high end pieces. This means one established NHL player aged 20-25, a top prospect, and a first round pick.

Scenario 2: Four high end pieces. This means one not as quite established NHL player aged 20-25, two prospects, and a first round pick. Different combos can come out of this it seems, like multiple first round picks instead of two prospects.

Colorado is in need of defenseman, so it’s easy to see that the top prospect or established NHL player probably needs to be a blue liner.

What does this all mean for San Jose? It means Duchene for all intents and purposes will not be a Shark. The price is high and would require say Meier, Mueller, and two firsts. Or Meier, Labanc, Mueller, and a first. Or Meier, Mueller, Heed/Demelo, and a first. Or Meier, and three firsts. Or you get the point, it doesn’t look good.

So it was fun while it lasted! Shout out to everyone in the comments section of my last article for coming up with amazing Duchene trades. We will always have our fake trades.