Matt Duchene Or Alex Tanguay?

[GlitchMarner]

Two first round picks of the Colorado Avalanche - who was the better player?

 

[shadow1]

Avs fan voting Duchene.

Tanguay currently has a slightly higher career PPG, but it's hard to ignore Duchene's late career renaissance. He just scored 82 points and will turn 35 next season. Tanguay scored a respectable 55 points at age 34, but was totally cooked during his age 35 season, being unceremoniously traded to the Arizona Coyotes by old pal Joe Sakic.

When you look at the two, their careers are practically reversed. Tanguay with the big numbers and deep playoff runs early on, and the opposite for Duchene. Really good choice for a comparison, @GlitchMarner!

 

[Stive Morgan]

Biased Habs fan voting Tanguay (albeit I also loved him on the Avs)

 

[Killakirillthethrill]

Have to go with Duchene, proved to be more durable down the stretch as @shadow1 mentioned. Tanguay also played with a much more HOF cast then Duchene.

 

[BKarchitect]

Tanguay is a really under appreciated player. Yeah, he got to play with a loaded cast but he was such a tremendous playmaker from the moment he got to Denver as a teenager. The 04 lockout really deprived him and some others of what could very well have been peak career seasons - he was 6th in the entire NHL in points/game in 03-04 and definitely on the shortlist of best playmakers in the league.

Side note definitely bias here - I definitely have an affinity for the guys from the 1998 class as they were all my age. Tanguay, Richards, Gagne, Gomez…guys who weren’t quite good enough to be remembered well in a historical context but who were absolute stars in their day.

I was so pissed the day we dealt Tanger to Calgary, though Jordan Leopold was a pretty exciting blueline prospect. This after we already had dealt Drury to the Flames a few years prior in another deal for a young defender (Derek Morris).

 

[biturbo19]

Kind of a tough one, because i think Duchene at his absolute best has been the better player and has at least off and on, played the more valuable position. But he's also been wildly inconsistent. My recollection of Tanguay is just quietly churning out a ton of seasons of really good playmaking from the wing. So...tortoise or the hare, sort of.

I lean Duchene just on the strength of him at his absolute best being better and higher impact than Tanguay at his absolute best. But i'd definitely understand anyone voting the other way, on the strength of more consistency.

 

[The Devilish Buffoon]

Kind of a tough one, because i think Duchene at his absolute best has been the better player and has at least off and on, played the more valuable position. But he's also been wildly inconsistent. My recollection of Tanguay is just quietly churning out a ton of seasons of really good playmaking from the wing. So...tortoise or the hare, sort of.

I lean Duchene just on the strength of him at his absolute best being better and higher impact than Tanguay at his absolute best. But i'd definitely understand anyone voting the other way, on the strength of more consistency.

Same boat.

 

[Bear of Bad News]

I very much want this to be Alex Tanguay because I love him, but it's Duchene.