Yes. Unless he completely changes the way he plays, unless he gets tougher and not so easy to knock off pucks he wont score more than 70 points in the NHL no matter who he plays with.
It's not like Duchene uses his line mates, he always tries doing things on his own and most of the time ends up losing the puck.
I'm not sure how much he can change his game to be more productive, but I think he needs to make a whole bunch of changes if he ever wants to come close to 80 or 90 points.
Sure wish they would make some decent Avalanche fat heads.
Sakic or Bourque with the cup would be awesome!
They make a Sakic one but without the cup.
My husband got the Duchene one for me for Christmas. I kind wish he'd have gotten Sakic even though I'm a big Duchene fan currently.
But he was so excited he came up with the idea on his own. lol
Yes. Unless he completely changes the way he plays, unless he gets tougher and not so easy to knock off pucks he wont score more than 70 points in the NHL no matter who he plays with.
It's not like Duchene uses his line mates, he always tries doing things on his own and most of the time ends up losing the puck.
I'm not sure how much he can change his game to be more productive, but I think he needs to make a whole bunch of changes if he ever wants to come close to 80 or 90 points.
Duchene doesn't need a 'whole bunch of changes' to come close to 80 points. He needs to improve his shot slightly (go from a 27 goal scorer to a 30-35) and trust his linemates more... that is pretty much it to get to that level. Duchene gets in trouble when he does too much, and that has a lot to do with him not trusting his linemates with the puck. Look at what he did when he had Flash, pre scrambled brain Mueller, and a slightly younger Hejduk on his line at various times. PAP is pretty much an ideal winger for Duchene, and Downie would also be a great fit. A playmaking type that can create space and is good with the puck is what he needs. Players like Jones that can't handle the puck are not a good fit for Duchene at all.
Now if Duchene wants to get to that elite level, he needs to bulk up, be more willing to go into the dirty areas, and really add to his shot. Not sure this happens, but I wouldn't doubt it either.
And to your left ladies and gentlemen is the creator of the "Duchene's a BUST" thread
I have always been of the firm belief that there are insurgent Detroit fans among every major fan forum for Colorado.
It's like the cold war but no one ever told them to come home. So they continue to live daily as hateful trolls on places like Hfboards, Dater's blog and Hockeybuzz.
I think Dater's blog still has the majority of the population though, most likely led by Mark Kiszla as the grand master spy.
I want to be wrong but that's what I think anyways.. How else could a fan of a team harbor so much hatred for their own teams players?
And to your left ladies and gentlemen is the creator of the "Duchene's a BUST" thread
Looking left, all I see is your username.
Whether we all like it or not, the honest truth is that Duchene had a brutal season. He was clutching his stick too tight on most nights. He had a few outstanding nights which demonstrate why he's held in such high regards and proves he hasn't lost anything.
But he's easily the biggest headcase on the team right now. There's something that just eats at him and he just compounds his problems when he's having bad games. It's like a runaway train that no one can stop when he loses his confidence.
Guy needs to seriously grow up and smell the real world, just because you're playing the game you love for your job and have the money to live a 'fun' life, doesn't mean you can take it so hard on yourself when you don't carry the entire team night in and night out.
He needs to learn to step back, own up to his shortcomings and make himself better with each mistake. If there's one thing O'Reilly/Landeskog could pass on to him, they need to pass on their mental fortitude. Duchene + Confidence is a top 10 center in the game.
2. Good, productive, injury free players on his line.
3. Stay injury free.
I wonder how many Avs 'fans' would be calling to trade Landeskog should one of his next two seasons be like Duchene's last season. Landeskog's critics would be screaming trade him while the Avs can get maximum value for him. Hopefully I'll be spared that same angst which I am seeing with Duchene. In the meantime, I'm willing to see how the next couple of seasons work out for Duchene before contemplating moving him.
Just out of curiosity, have any of the other NHL teams' coaches given an assessment of Duchene? I'd be interested to learn what they, instead of the fans, think of him.
I called this way back when everyone started to turn on Stastny. That eventually people would start to turn on Duchene too once the next shiny new toy came along. Who knew it would only take 2 years.
He knows how to play defense, he's just not particularly effective at it down low. Especially last season with his lethargic skating.
He spends 90% of his shift puck watching. I strongly disagree with you. He is supposed to make it 3 on 3 down low, but never covers his man. Very poor. He lacks fundamental defensive skills for a centre.
He spends 90% of his shift puck watching. I strongly disagree with you. He is supposed to make it 3 on 3 down low, but never covers his man. Very poor. He lacks fundamental defensive skills for a centre.
I swear to Budaj if I see another nhl.com ad for awhile... someone will pay.
Varly save on Thornton shows Duchene down low pinning the man to the boards while Hejda clears it (unsuccessfully) and Duchene then pivoting and returning back to the crease to help out defensively.
Also the Couture goal shows Duchene attacking the shooter from previously being downlow to help out the play after Staz appears to break his stick.
It was just a random game I pulled up and I only found Duchy in the defensive zone during those two clips, but it helps give support to my belief he can play defense, but he's just not terribly effective at it.
Duchene doesn't need a 'whole bunch of changes' to come close to 80 points. He needs to improve his shot slightly (go from a 27 goal scorer to a 30-35) and trust his linemates more... that is pretty much it to get to that level. Duchene gets in trouble when he does too much, and that has a lot to do with him not trusting his linemates with the puck. Look at what he did when he had Flash, pre scrambled brain Mueller, and a slightly younger Hejduk on his line at various times. PAP is pretty much an ideal winger for Duchene, and Downie would also be a great fit. A playmaking type that can create space and is good with the puck is what he needs. Players like Jones that can't handle the puck are not a good fit for Duchene at all.
Now if Duchene wants to get to that elite level, he needs to bulk up, be more willing to go into the dirty areas, and really add to his shot. Not sure this happens, but I wouldn't doubt it either.
At this point in his career I think that it takes a pretty special talent to work with Duchene, and PAP is not it. I suspect Semin may be, which is one of the big reasons I want to sign him.
He spends 90% of his shift puck watching. I strongly disagree with you. He is supposed to make it 3 on 3 down low, but never covers his man. Very poor. He lacks fundamental defensive skills for a centre.
Its not like we ask him to do that much defensively anyway. You look at what we ask Staz or ROR to do and Duchenes assignments are nothing compared to them. He just coasts around. He could at least do what olver does, stand in the center and try to break up passes and lift sticks.
Wonder where Landeskog will rank on that list after next season
Based on what OP is stating, Landeskog shouldn't fit in this thread, just like JT shouldn't. JT is a birth year ahead of Duchene. His "18" year old season was really his 19 year old season. His sophmore season should be considered his 20 year old season. He was drafted in the year of the 91's as a 90 born. I see this as a huge advantage coming in as a rookie. Same thing with Taylor Hall. After his rookie year people said the Tyler vs Taylor argument was over. Hall was obviously better. People don't realize he had a year on Seguin. Even if one was born december 31 and the other was born january 1. That's a big difference in hockey development. It's an entire year or playing with older, better players growing up which is a lot at that age.
At this point in his career I think that it takes a pretty special talent to work with Duchene, and PAP is not it. I suspect Semin may be, which is one of the big reasons I want to sign him.
I see. So PAP is special enough to work with Tavares but NOT special enough to work with Duchene?
Let's wait and see how it works out first before we start talking about stuff like this. Just like everyone thought Lando would end up playing with Duchene, he settled in with ROR so it's not even certain that PAP ends up playing with Duchene.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stevekento19
Based on what OP is stating, Landeskog shouldn't fit in this thread, just like JT shouldn't. JT is a birth year ahead of Duchene. His "18" year old season was really his 19 year old season. His sophmore season should be considered his 20 year old season. He was drafted in the year of the 91's as a 90 born. I see this as a huge advantage coming in as a rookie. Same thing with Taylor Hall. After his rookie year people said the Tyler vs Taylor argument was over. Hall was obviously better. People don't realize he had a year on Seguin. Even if one was born december 31 and the other was born january 1. That's a big difference in hockey development. It's an entire year or playing with older, better players growing up which is a lot at that age.
Yeah, Tavares missed the cutoff by a few days and I didn't even want to get into deciphering all of that or even worse, get into a debate about all that stuff but you're right, essentially Tavares played his first regular season NHL game as a 19 year old.
So I basically looked if the player was drafted at 18 (not 19, 20 or later) and if so, if he played in the NHL that year. Otherwise, it would have been too time consuming.
At the very least, it puts things in perspective not taking into consideration the incoherent ramblings of kizla or that closet wings fan, 'the_fan'.
97 points in 77 games....yeah Duchene has come close to those numbers before
Are you really that dense? First off, Giroux scored 93 pts this last year, and second he was 24 years old. You don't think in 3 years that Duchene might be able to match that production? Then you should join Kiszla and GTFO
