Will the Real Matt Duchene Please Stand Up?

Matt Duchene has been on the periphery of Nashville Predators hockey even before he wore the uniform.

Of course there was the infamously wild offside-but-not-called-offside goal Duchene scored against the Predators in 2013 that helped spark an eventual rule change in the NHL. 

And it was no secret around Nashville and the league that General Manager David Poile had been extremely interested in Duchene for several seasons before the center signed with the Preds on July 1, 2019.

And, sure, everyone knows Matt Duchene loves country music. 

But for three hockey seasons, Predators fans have been trying to understand who Matt Duchene the Nashville Predators hockey player really is. Now after his incredible 2021-2022 season, fans are still left with a question. Is Duchene the underperforming, overpaid acquisition that couldn't possibly live up to GM David Poile's expectations who happened to have one fluky good season? Or has he been a victim of circumstance and really the record setting goal scorer the Nashville Predators have needed all along?

To quote a throwback game show - will the real Matt Duchene please stand up? 

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It would be a great story if Duchene was signed in 2019 and had a '21-'22 season performance right away. There would be few questions about the player or the signing and a lot of hockey drama could have been avoided. But Duchene's start with the Predators was rocky and earning the fan base's confidence an uphill battle from the get go. 

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In his defense, Duchene walked into a situation already brewing with unease. Nashville hadn't been able to make much postseason headway after the 2017 Stanley Cup run even with a Presidents Trophy season in 2018. Duchene's statistics from that same season (31 goals, 39 assists, 70 points) weren't quite enough to overcome the initial skepticism among fans of yet another high price tag center coming into the ranks. Nashville had been down that road before.

GM David Poile inked two large contracts in 2017 that made the Duchene signing feel like financial deja vu. That July, Poile signed Ryan Johansen to a hefty 8 year, $64 million contract and in November acquired Kyle Turris in a three way trade that coincidentally involved sending then Avs player Matt Duchene to the Ottawa Senators. Then Poile signed Turris to a 6 year, $6 million deal. When Duchene joined the team in July 2019, fans did the center math and realized the Preds now had two $8 million centers on the top six and a $6 million center playing third line minutes. 

Duchene's deal became almost a surname  - "Eight million dollar Duchene" with the dollar amount being an unattainable measuring stick for a disgruntled fan base. Duchene saw some early success with teammates Mikael Granlund and Filip Forsberg, but he inexplicably ended up in the forward line blender. In his first season with the Preds, Duchene played with eight different line mates on fourteen unique line combinations. It's challenging to find chemistry with a line almost always in flux. It didn't help that the team hit a six game losing skid in November and that there seemed to be a disconnect brewing between then head coach Peter Laviolette and some of the team. After a rocky stretch around the Christmas/New Year holiday, GM David Poile made the shocking decision to relieve Laviolette of his head coaching duties. 

Duchene and the rest of the players had only 28 games with new head coach John Hynes before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the season in March of 2020. The Preds lost the five game play-in round series in the modified 2020 postseason "bubble" in August and were off the ice until the shortened 2020-2021 season began in January of 2021.

The coaching change and the pandemic affected all of the Predators roster in one way or another, but Duchene barely had any traction or consistent line mates before his time in Nashville was upended by both. Most in Nashville didn't want to hear excuses, however, and the fan base seemed ready to call this another failed signing. 

And then Duchene's last season happened.

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After what both Hynes and Duchene called "honest conversations" in the offseason and with consistent ice time with Filip Forsberg and Mikael Granlund again, Duchene found his groove. 

No, he flourished. 

Duchene set career highs in goals and points and set the franchise single season goal record after an exciting race to that finish with Filip Forsberg. Fulfilling part of the Poile prophecy about his special teams ability, Duchene scored a career and team high sixteen power play goals as well. There was a physicality and fire to his game. He was one of the few Preds players who showed up in the postseason. 

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Even the biggest #95 critic would be hard pressed to dismiss Duchene's '21-'22 performance as a fluke. There may, however, still be a few skeptics out there who look ahead and wonder who Matt "Eight million dollar" Duchene will be this time around. 

Wait and see. The real Matt Duchene will stand up.