It’s never fun to drag up old comments to make athletes look silly, but in Matt Duchene’s case, yikes.
The Ottawa Senators forward was dealt earlier this season after requesting a trade from the Colorado Avalanche. After the Avs struggled in 2016-17, Duchene wanted the chance to play playoff hockey elsewhere – which is why he wanted to be dealt. (H/T theScore)
“I wanted to play playoff hockey” he explained, per Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia. “I’ve got eight playoff games to my name right now and that’s not where I want to be at this point of my career. I only get one shot at this. I get to play this game for however long my body lets me play it and I felt I wanted to let Joe know it was time to move on.”
Unfortunately, the request backfired tremendously.
Ottawa finished with the third-worst record in the East, winning just 28 games. Meanwhile, the team Duchene wanted to part with so he could get a better chance at winning sneaked into the eight-seed and will face the Nashville Predators in the first-round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Of course, there are more factors than just winning at play for Duchene requesting a trade, but, considering how big of a deal he made it and the fact the Senators were abysmal while the Avalanche surprised must hurt.
Who knows? Maybe the Senators will be playoff bound next season? Eh, I doubt it.
