At long last.
The Nashville Predators have — officially — signed free agent center Matt Duchene to a seven year contract worth $56 million laden with signing bonuses.
As first reported by Darren Dreger, the breakdown is as follows: $10 million (2019-20), $8m (2020-21), $10m (2021-22), $8m (2022-23), $9m (2023-24), $6m (2024-25) and $5m (2025-26). As reported by Pierre LeBrun, the deal carries a seven-team NTC (No Trade Clause) in the final three years.
Despite the Haliburton, Ontario native averaging just 54.7 points per season so far in his 10-year career, he’s amassed 70 points twice. Both came in contract years, however, and that’s a red flag for some. Should Preds fans expect 50-55 points per season out of their prized free agent signing or should they expect closer to the 70 points he clearly has the potential for?
Duchene, 28, improves the Nashville roster and Poile must believe that he’s a missing piece in Nashville’s Stanley Cup puzzle. And, quite frankly, who can fault Poile when the rumors just last week were in the $9.5 million/year range for Duchene?
“Our objective this off-season was to bolster our offense and signing Matt Duchene gives us another dynamic goal-scoring, playmaking center,” Poile said in the press release. “We are excited to add his skill and experience to our top-six forwards and look forward to the next seven years of Matt and his family in Smashville. Matt’s love of country music and passion for the city of Nashville make this partnership a perfect fit.”
This has been a long time coming.
The two sides have been linked together for over three years now. When Nashville hosted NHL All-Star Weekend in January of 2016, Duchene made no secret of his love for country music and even took the stage with Lee Brice to guest on his song “Drinking Class.” In 2017, while rumors continues to swirl about the Colorado Avalanche making him available, Duchene posted this picture on Instagram, featuring him on a boat, in a Tennessee tri-star t-shirt with the words “HOME TEAM” on it. Then, in November 2018, he purchased an AirBNB property in Nashville. And, if all that wasn’t enough, no more than a few days after his Columbus Blue Jackets were ousted from the Stanley Cup Playoffs, he and some teammates took to lower Broadway in celebration of Riley Nash’s birthday.
Yes, he’s a guitar player so why wouldn’t he jump on stage with Lee Brice? Yes, he could’ve lost a bet and wore the Project615 t-shirt. Yes, Nashville is growing way too fast — as we all know — so an investment property for somebody who can afford it is just good business. And yes, lower Broadway is a tourist destination so it makes perfect sense he’d bring friends there to celebrate a birthday. All of these things, on an individual basis, are just sticks and logs for a kindling. Put them all together, however, and that’s one pretty big bonfire.
Put another way, we all saw this coming.
As far as the lineup goes, a pretty good assumption is that the top line of Viktor Arvidsson, Ryan Johansen and Filip Forsberg will stick together. This puts Duchene as the center of the second line with, presumably, Mikael Granlund and Craig Smith.
While he had a disappointing start to his time in gold, Granlund is a proven 60-65 point guy in the National Hockey League and should benefit greatly from having a center with Duchene’s talents. Smith, a streaky-yet-reliable player, should return to his 20+ goal, 45+ point production level when he’s flanking Duchene as well.
This begs the question about the domino effect on Kyle Turris, Nick Bonino and Colton Sissons, however. Turris is making second-line money at $6 million a year, Bonino was brought into center the third line while Sissons has certainly earned himself better than a fourth line spot on the depth chart.
Will Turris rebound from his horrendous 2018-19 campaign and, if so, does he deserve to be on the third line? Will Bonino accept the status of “fourth line center?” Does Sissons (a restricted free agent at the time this post was published) now become an attractive and affordable trade chip in an effort to relieve the log jam? Or does Turris still have some value around the league like, say, in Montreal?
As of right now, Nashville only has a little over $5 million in cap space. Keep in mind RFA’s Sissons and Rocco Grimaldi have yet to sign. That’s not nearly enough to allow Poile flexibility to navigate through the upcoming season. Some corresponding moves could follow.
“In terms of numbers, we have 2 goalies, 8 defenseman and 15 NHL forwards,” Poile said in his press conference when asked if he was done. “There’s probably more likely to be a trade than an acquisition, if you will.”
Yes, there are some question marks but Duchene improves this Nashville roster and that’s what this is about. Does he help the League’s worst power play? Yes. Does he help close the “offensive threat” gap between the first and second lines, thereby forcing the opponent to stay honest? Absolutely. Should his skill level lift up his line mates? Of course.
At long last, welcome to Nashville, Matt Duchene.
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PHOTO: Matt Duchene // Instagram
