“And the one thing I can say about Matt is he's very resilient.”

He may be 34 years old, but he doesn’t act like it on the ice.

Dallas Stars forward Matt Duchene has had a rocky road over the last five or so years, but he appears to be settling into a groove after his second full season with the Stars.

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Duchene’s long-time trainer – Andy O’Brien, Chief Performance Officer, Cizzle Brands, NHL Health & Performance Expert, and High-Performance Consultant for the Florida Panthers – spoke with The Hockey News about Duchene and what may have contributed to some bumps in the road recently.

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“He's had to adapt to a lot of different teams,” O’Brien said. “Some of the teams that he's been on have had some change and some turnover that he's had to adapt to.”

“And I think this has been like a lot of change in his career, in terms of environments, moving your family around, doing different things.”

Duchene has played for five different organizations over the last eight years of his career. Indeed, this must have an impact on a player.

Stars' Duchene Has Resilience In Spades

Luckily for Duchene, his secret sauce lies not in the skills he possesses on the ice sheet, but in some personality traits that help him be the best player he can be.

“Matt has been an elite player in the league for a long time,” O’Brien told The Hockey News. “He's a very dedicated player that puts a lot of emotion into everything that he does.” 

“He's had some ups and downs, and I'm very proud of how resilient he's been.”

That resilience has manifested in a few different ways. One of which has been to push back on Father Time and put together an 82-point season in 2024-25.

Dallas Stars Honour Matt Duchene With A Silver Stick For His 1000th NHL Game The Dallas Stars held a ceremony ahead of their game against the Washington Capitals to honour veteran forward Matt Duchene for playing his 1000th NHL game, ...

“When you see some players start to decline, that decline is kind of like a one-way street,” O’Brien revealed. “You start to see a little bit every year, and then finally they're done. And Matt's the kind of guy that really pushes back.” 

“He’s able to respond and have these kind of rebound years and continue to fight that decline and continue to operate at a really high level.”

Who Duchene is off the ice has spoken volumes to O’Brien, who thinks that Duchene will be an essential piece for the Stars for the rest of this playoff run.

“I think he's had a phenomenal year this year, he's been such a big piece of that Dallas team, and (I’m) just very proud of him. He is an elite player that makes really great plays, and he's capable of making a difference in the playoffs.”

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