How The Matt Duchene Trade Became Joe Sakic's Masterpiece | NHL Trade Trees 

16-17 Colorado Avalanche <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="136">2:16</a> 19-20 Detroit Red Wings; Hold my Octopus

So, I'm taking Sakic to negotiate my mortgage. I'll leave the bank with no debt, two houses and more money

What a trade. Brought home the cup. And Ottawa collapsing in 2018-2019 turned the draft pick into #4th overall and Bowen Byram.

Yzerman and Sakic saved their respective teams as players in the 90s, now they're saving their teams as GMs in the 20s

This trade just won them a cup, and I think there will be more to come.

Matt Duchene wanted to play for a playoff team. Well that team(Predators) got swept by the Avs in the first round, who went on to become the 2022 Stanley Cup champions. Thank you Matt!

Samuel Girard already has way more value than Kyle Turris that's for sure.

This aged beautifully! Way to go Avs!!!!!!

WOULD LOVE to see an update to this tree with the 2022 Stanley Cup championship run included

AND>>>>>June 26, 2022. The Colorado Avalanche WIN the Stanley Cup! Thank you Joe Sakic!

Sakic fleeced everyone with this trade. He won it hands down

Here after the Avs win the Cup. And mmmmmmm, this is satisfying. Thanks Matt Duchene. Requesting a trade was the best thing you could’ve done for your favorite team

This is my favourite trade to look at of all time. Because Duchene left Colorado to play on a playoff team, as soon as he left Colorado the aves became a playoff team and the sens went from almost Stanley cup finalists to where the avalanche were the year before! Absolutely crazy.

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="562">9:22</a> Columbus owns this pick. They got it back after Duchene left.

Girard is a wizard, I love watching him play.

And now two years later we are in the Stanley Cup Finals Up 3-1, crazy how things work!

Just like that they’re Stanley cup champs🤝👏

This trade is ageing like a fine wine for Joe Sakic

These trade trees are so awesome, Steve needs a raise!! This is one of the best shows to watch on RU-vid right now. I talk about it at work all the time.

Hey Producer Drew. I watch these videos to humor this dork Steve but I'm just holding out until you take over and this channel becomes an Avs channel.

Yeah I can say that after winning the Stanley cup I don’t think there’s any doubt this trade is Eric lindros 2.0

Well now we know. The Cup is in Denver...cool to see how it all started to take shape!!!

Who’s watching this after the Aves won the Stanley cup in 2022

Huge Avs fan here as well. I remember waiting for this trade to happen. All the analyst were so confused and thinking Sakic was crazy for not trading duchene right after he wanted out. But he took his time and got an amazing deal. Then for topper when Ottawa was bottom of the league I was soooo happy every time they lost.

As an Avs fan, I was happy with this deal as soon as I saw a 19 year old Girard play, regardless of everything else. Which is great as you said. Girard just had such a smooth stride that you could instantly recognize he had a place in the modern NHL. Joe has done a masterful job rebuilding the entire organization since he was given free reign instead of colluding with Roy prior to the 16-17 season. During that season, I posted a rant somewhere on the internet about how embarrassing our drafting and development had been. Other than forcing 1st round picks into the lineup immediately, nobody from our drafts panned out for nearly a decade. Guys careers were hurt by that. There was no minor league development, the AHL team was hardly even competitive most of those years. In turn they had to waste tons of money just to fill out the roster on aging veteran players. It was bad. Then Joe got full control and he started from the back and worked up. Our drafting has improved, seemingly, and we aren't forcing guys into the lineup immediately either. Also our minor league development has finally started to work as well. They actually used money to improve the AHL team this year, making it competitive while also playing a healthy amount of young players like Bowers, Timmins and Martin Kaut. I also throw in Logan O'Connor in there as well as I think he has a spot in the NHL as a depth player. But the most important thing about the Avs is this isn't the only deal Sakic has done amazing work on. He's done a great job at identifying younger players who have room to improve, the coaching has been able to help these guys improve as well. Adding guys like Burakovsky, Grubauer and Graves through trade and also Nichuskin (one of my favourite moves from the start) and Francouz in free agency on very low deals. It just allows the team do to exactly the opposite of what they HAD to do at the end of the O'Reilly (RIP) and Duchene era, which was pay 35+ year old guys for multiple years to play on the 4th line or 3rd d pair. It's been a master class by Sakic and co. since rebuilding, and it looks like we're only at the tip of the iceberg. Unlike Dangles, who I don't enjoy at all, I don't predict a cup in the next 10 years. Cause you never know, but I do believe in Sakic's hands they will be one of the best, most exciting teams in the league to watch for at least 10 years.

Steve , love this trade summary. Worked out very well for Sakic and the avs. Congrats on that cup win.!!!

Watching this today as an Avs fan absolute chefs kiss 👌

This trade certainly helped us bring that cup home today ;) Thanks Duchene for being a whiny baby!

As an Avs fan, frankly, I was happy to see Duchene go. He had become a ball and chain.

Didn’t the 2020 first have a condition where if he didn’t resign Columbus kept the pick?? Love the trade trees during quarantine though❤️

You’re right they didn’t get Forseberg, they got Bobby Orr.

Honestly the best thing that came from the 2016-17 avs season was that jerseys dropped to $50 😂😂😂

I think the trade turned out well. Really well.

Loved Duchene face when he got pulled from the ice mid game

Lindros video should be Great. So many moving pieces, draft picks, trades after the trade..... cant wait

Watching this after the Avs just won the Cup!!! Words can’t describe how amazingly this trade worked out!!

Couldn’t imagine how happy Bowen byram was to get drafted to Colorado

Well this aged well.

Another thing this trade did, and probably the most important...Was allow Nathan MacKinnon to be the true number one centre he is. Sure maybe it was his development that allowed him to become the player he is today. But let's look at some numbers. With Matt Duchene on the team: Nathan Mackinnon: GP G A Pts 82 24 39 63 (2013/14) 64 14 24 38 (2014/15) 72 21 31 51 (2015/16) 82 16 37 53 (2016/17) For a total of 300GP 75G 131A and 206 points. Not bad. Now, here is Nathan Mackinnon's stats without Matt Duchene Nathan Mackinnon: GP G A Pts 74 39 58 97 (2017/18) 82 41 58 99 (2018/19) 69 35 58 93 (2019/20) For a total of 225GP 115G 174A and 289 Points. A legit #1 C in the NHL numbers. Maybe i'm reaching for something that isn't there, but i'll be damned if Nate the Great hasn't turned it on 180% since Duchene left the Avalanche. Just another reason why this trade is a huge W. Oh and Byram and Girard help as well!

I'm a huge Colorado fan and winning the cup this past season was amazing

Not to mention, getting Duchene out of there (arguably) gave MacKinnon the room to break out and become the Avs MVP.

All I remember thinking at the time as an Avs fan was thank god the trade finally happened. Turned out it was the BIGGEST pivotal trade in recent Avalanche Franchise history.

Stienburg is an underrated pick. He's a long term project, but he plays a very pro style game and does a lot of little things that keep bottom sixers in the good graces of their coaches.

And now the Avalanche have gone from rock bottom to top of the mountain. The 2022 Stanley Cup Champions!

Girard-Makar-Byram, the future D version of the Three-Headed Monster they’ve got for a top line. #GoAvs #AllHailCale

I saw Matt Duchene and Joe Sakic in the same title and all I could think of was "oh boy here we go". Thanks for letting me relive my early days as an Avs fan when I was like "reffing seems like fun".

The Duchene Trade and Saga are complicated for me. You've gotta love the "High Draft Pick gets drafted by their Favorite Team and turns them around" story, but I get why Duchene wanted out. Those were very, very painful years to watch; playing must have been agony.

Joe Sakic is one of the best GMs in the league

As a Preds fan I thoroughly remember this trade and how absolutely confused and stunned I was at it. I remember hearing Duchene got traded and the Sens and the Preds were involved and I got so excited to think we finally have a first line center and then was told that we gave up our BEST prospect defenseman (maybe even best prospect at the time) a pick and Kamanev I couldn’t wait to see Duchene; but hearing that WE GOT KYLE TURRIS INSTEAD I damn near had a heart attack. You never make that trade to Ottawa straight up for Kyle Turris how in GODS name did you send all that to Colorado and NOT GET THE BEST PLAYER COMING BACK. I love Poile he’s made one of if not the beat D-Core in all of hockey right now and drafts NOTORIOUSLY well, but he got the wool pulled over his eyes on this trade. Granted we have Duchene now (and he’s not looking as great as we thought he would) but it still was just a ROUGH time for the Preds here.

Thank you so much for doing this one Steve!

Revisiting this on the days before the 2022 SCF. Man, this is fun to watch..... :) Sakic may be a better GM than he was a player, and that's saying something! #GoAvsGo

The fact that you didn't even mention Conor Timmins speaks volumes about what they have on the back end

this a great video man, been unsure about the ones so far but this one is sick af keep it upz

Can't help but feel bad for Duchene, I remember when we (Avalanche lifelong fan so I get to say we) picked him and he was supposed to be our next Sakic. But hey now we have a super young skilled team so we have a chance again, next few years as Makar develops will be our golden opportunity.

Historical viewpoint here. As an Avs fan, it's interesting to note that many Avs fans were underwhelmed by the return at the time. Many saw the collection of pieces coming back and thought that we "lost" the trade - since the team giving up the best player tends to be the loser. While I loved Duchene, years of losing had exposed the his mental flaws - and he had to go. At the time, Girard was a young player that many thought was undersized for the NHL. As mentioned, the Avs had a horrendous run of years with injury problems - and fans wanted tougher players to address this. Bringing in an undersized D - that was anathema to some people! Add to that, the fact that Avs drafting (outside the top 3) since 2009 (they knocked it out of the park with O'Reilly/Barrie at 33/64 that year_ was terrible - many fans did not believe that the predicted low first rounder would be worth anything, with the 2nd and 3rd being worth even less. Some Avs fans truly thought that Shane Bowers was the cornerstone of this trade, and the best part that we were getting back - though few thought very much of him. In short, a number of Avs fans thought just like Steve did - that the Avs got absolutely fleeced. Of course, hindsight is 20/20 - and it's easy to see that this trade ended up being ridiculously lopsided in favour of the Avs!

This trade is basically the NHL's equivalent to the Herschel Walker Trade

Video checks out. Avs Stanley Cup Champions.

i swear colorado has super good management, i saw the Lindros one aswell and this proves it

Joe is the example of larceny with a smile. The Joe Sakic SMILE. QUIET,YET DEADLY

I ALWAYS look away from the screen whenever that Nino goal comes up. IT STILL HURTS. (Die hard Avs fan since childhood). You also forgot to mention Timmins who is looking like a future NHL starter

With two more years of hindsight for this post... yeah. This continues to be a great era for the Avs... and not so much for Nashville or Ottawa. Super Joe has lifted this franchise to greatness twice now.

much love from greece! i love these videos so much!!!

He needs to revisit this after tonight

JOSEPH SAKICINO, my #2 all time favourite player behind roy and ahead of forsberg and sundin. seems to be a masterful GM, stole naz from me, keeping money free to pay guys when he needs to instead of having to trade off the roster, didn't pay rantenen 11M. yes folks, he does it all.

I am just hoping that Grubauer and Burakovsky have success in Colorado. I enjoyed them help the Caps win a cup (there was a lot of screaming that night) and wish them the best.

Getting rid of Duchene even for just a dozen pucks and some tape would have been a win! Duchene was not drafted by Sakic... (Greg Sherman brought in 2 weeks before the draft also snagged O'Reilly as well as Barry during that draft, not bad) Regardless, Head Coach Joe Sacco had no meshing with the kids and Roy was brought in after Sakic took over from Sherman to instill the discipline that Sacco could not promote. It became evident that something was going on in the locker room after the early exit in the playoffs that first year under Roy. Even as a fan (yes, I was there for Game 1 in 1996) you could see Duchene was quitting on the ice. Roy eventually had enough and begged Sakic to get rid of the Duchene. Ownership said no, so Sakic was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Roy left seeing that he had a selfish quitter he could not bench. Sakic was most certainly biding his time with Duchene's $6 Million contract and setup this monster deal. Ottawa was lucky they got out after 1 season! Now the Predators are stuck with an injury prone 29 year old whiner at 7 years ($56 Million guaranteed) and a $28 Million bonus. That's gonna hurt !

Watching in June '22. Yes, they "crushed it." Great video. And you also mentioned Kadri!

Annunen is their goalie of the future let me tell ya .. he’s that good

Sam Girard will hold the record for most spin-o-ramas in a career..

Erik Johnson - Kevin Shattenkirk trade tree would be amazing! Steve would love it I know it! It would involve the Halak-Miller trade (Chris Stewart), The Brayden Schenn trade (WSH '17 1st rounder from the Shattenkirk trade), How 11th overall Siemens turned out (avs we're stoked they got the highest possible pick they could with it being Top 10 protected) vs 2nd rounder multi-100 pt WHLer Ty Rattie turned out.

Unbelievable trade! Love your trade tree videos! Seeing this trade now, it is clear that you were BANG on in your prediction. The Avs got a GENERATION OF TALENT for a SINGLE player.

This needs to be revisited.

Joe was such a pleasure to watch live and he is turning out to be a great GM.I am hoping for a Montreal VS Colorado finals.Legendary man is Joe Sakic!!!

Producer drew hope your happy

As an Avs fan this made me so happy!!! :)

I'm smiling so hard right now! Thanks Steve!

❤💙❤💙 Go Avs GO! We did some AMAZING movement with that trade! Just getting Dutchy gone helped our boys out for sure! He was holding MacKinnon and the team back. Loved him, but he needed to go.

Sakic is as good a GM as he was a player IMHO. He sure did guess right moving Barrie & Kerfoot for Kadri and drafting Makar.

Great episode!!!

Yes! I've been waiting for this one!

Roberto Luongo to the Panthers leading to Marchand to the Bruins

Next do a "How the Erik Karlsson Trade Became Pierre Dorian's Masterpiece" when Josh Norris turns into a top 6 player and Ottawa gets one of Lafreniere, Byfield, or Stutzle

I would love to see an updated version.

As an Avs fan, this video made me very happy

What a trade this ended up being

The 2020 Blue Jackets first was conditional on Duchene re-signing with the team, which he didn't, so they only got the 2019 first, Abramov, and Davidsson.

That was an excellent pronounciation of Ilves, good job Steve.

This trade should provide a blueprint for struggling teams, in any sport, with an all-star player.

As a CBJ fan Steve gave me a mild freak out followed by some intense googling. Nice to know I'm not crazy and we still have our first. Love the trade trees Steve!

I would love to see the updated version of this trade tree 3-4 years later. Then again I bet it's still growing. With that said maybe a few more years from now see the updated version. Go Avs

Yea after Matt blew the playoff game i was like be Gone!!! and Sakic did his job.. Still to this day Joe Sakic is a legend on and off the ice in Denver

Joe can do it all. One of the greatest hockey players ever, and now a master-class GM. Just look at the team he's built. #goavsgo

This showing up at n my feed, of all times, right before the Cup Finals. Avs v. Lighting 2022. Maybe a continuation of this tree would be good.

I picked Soderberg in a fantasy draft that year.

Joe Sakic: art of the deal

The tree grows again: Bowen Byram for Casey Mittelstadt.

Thank you thank you thank you Super Joe

Love the color coordination with the pins on the MacFarlane figures

This video aged REALLY well

Sorry Steve, love the video but Ottawa doesn't have the Columbus first rounder this year