Confirmed with Link: Nashville Predators buying out Matt Duchene

Armourboy

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Because Trotz faught to get guys like Radulov, Jere Karilhati and both Kostitsyns on the roster. Surely Duchene isn’t in their league of locker room cancers
No but he is in their league when it comes to never winning anything in the NHL. Besides Duchene has a reputation before he got here, and obviously we have no idea how he handled the home/job balance side of it either. Duchene, although playing decent, may have not exactly been putting in a full effort off the ice.

Could have been term, but I think the crunch was the M-NTC that would've kicked in yesterday. If he wasn't bought out, that would've kicked in and made it harder for GMBT to trade him. It would've made it harder for any GM, which is likely why nobody wanted to pick him up on that contract on a Joey discount.

Nice guy. Loves Nashville. Scores goals. But exactly no one wanted to give him the leverage of a M-NTC for $4Mx3.

PS: This is just what happens when there is a new sheriff in the GM seat. We've never gone through it before, but a new GM will want to put his fingerprints on things. Coaches and players are jettisoned. New coaches and players are brought in.
Trotz said in the press conference that the issue was the 3rd year.
 

weeze

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It wasn't about saving money, the owners have just shown you that with the UFA's Trotz brought in. Trotz wanted winners on his team, guys that do things the way he thinks they should be done.

I think Duchene has won 1 playoff round his entire career across 4 teams. You do the math.
I am just saying the owners have been so cost conscious since. Using the Preds and now all off a sudden they are not. People with money usually don’t throw there money away even when they have a lot of it. The Preds owners are by no means in the top tier of owners when it comes to deep pockets so it is just surprising they would do or allow this. So the owners are up to $18M+ in payments to non Preds. That has got to sting some I would think.
 

weeze

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No but he is in their league when it comes to never winning anything in the NHL. Besides Duchene has a reputation before he got here, and obviously we have no idea how he handled the home/job balance side of it either. Duchene, although playing decent, may have not exactly been putting in a full effort off the ice.
Never won anything? You can put a lot of players/GM’s in that category! And what reputation did he have before getting here? How has he held himself since becoming a Pred? It’s a business I know and it’s not my business but it just doesn’t look good to me so far. Sure would like to know more of why and what else is going to happen.
 

LCPreds

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Duchene has been one of the best offensive forwards for the Preds the last two seasons. Would love to know what effort he has been holding back on.
 

Armourboy

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Never won anything? You can put a lot of players/GM’s in that category! And what reputation did he have before getting here? How has he held himself since becoming a Pred? It’s a business I know and it’s not my business but it just doesn’t look good to me so far. Sure would like to know more of why and what else is going to happen.
Well he cried his way out of Colorado for starters and then got busted with that video talking crap about the coaching staff when he was in Ottawa, so yes he did have a reputation before he got here. Just because you don't know about it, or conveniently forgot, doesn't mean it's not a thing.

And yes a lot of players haven't won anything, which is the exact reason he brought in the players he did bring in.

I am just saying the owners have been so cost conscious since. Using the Preds and now all off a sudden they are not. People with money usually don’t throw there money away even when they have a lot of it. The Preds owners are by no means in the top tier of owners when it comes to deep pockets so it is just surprising they would do or allow this. So the owners are up to $18M+ in payments to non Preds. That has got to sting some I would think.
Have they or has Poile been that way for them? See these are the same owners minus Haslam coming in, so was it the owners not wanting to spend their money or Poile not wanting to spend anymore than he felt he had too? Unless they specifically say something we really don't know.

What I do know though is that we changed GM's and suddenly things changed, so maybe it wasn't just the owners.
 

Kat Predator

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Trotz said in the press conference that the issue was the 3rd year.
OK. I speculate that he was trying to sugarcoat things a bit. No one wanted to be "locked in" for 3 years. It just sounds a bit softer to say, "3 years is a long time, man."

He also did praise Joey and Matt up and down as well. Which if you took it totally at face value would make no sense whatsoever.

Add also that Duchene said he had multiple teams make him offers right away. Some offers for multiple years, but he decided on a 1 year deal since the cap situation should change, etc.
 
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Bringer of Jollity

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I don't want to start shitting on Duchene now that he's gone. It's true he wanted out of Colorado, albeit he was frustrated with their rebuild and was getting jerked around by Sakic and Roy. He had the taxi cab thing in Ottawa complaining about the coaches, but performed well and then also in Columbus. For us he was disappointing early and then leveled off to just below expectations (with one outstanding year).

Until we hear specifics it seems he was fine here with no glaring issues, but he was also underwhelming overall (as was most of the team) and we know he wanted to be in Nashville for off-ice reasons as much as on-ice. I'm disappointed we bought him out but the type of players Trotz has subsequently brought in are definitely a different breed than Joey/Duchene. Did we need to go scorched earth with them? Who knows for sure? Will it bite us? Probably not.
 

ShagDaddy

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OK. I speculate that he was trying to sugarcoat things a bit. No one wanted to be "locked in" for 3 years. It just sounds a bit softer to say, "3 years is a long time, man."

He also did praise Joey and Matt up and down as well. Which if you took it totally at face value would make no sense whatsoever.

Add also that Duchene said he had multiple teams make him offers right away. Some offers for multiple years, but he decided on a 1 year deal since the cap situation should change, etc.
Did you think Trotz would come right out and say “they’re decent players but neither one of them have the character I’m looking for to mentor the young players in this organization “? He did what any good manager would do, he thanked them for their contributions, said a few good things about them and the showed them the door.

It’s painfully obvious by now that Trotz doesn’t like either one of their character or the culture they fostered in the locker room.
 

Armourboy

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I don't want to start shitting on Duchene now that he's gone. It's true he wanted out of Colorado, albeit he was frustrated with their rebuild and was getting jerked around by Sakic and Roy. He had the taxi cab thing in Ottawa complaining about the coaches, but performed well and then also in Columbus. For us he was disappointing early and then leveled off to just below expectations (with one outstanding year).

Until we hear specifics it seems he was fine here with no glaring issues, but he was also underwhelming overall (as was most of the team) and we know he wanted to be in Nashville for off-ice reasons as much as on-ice. I'm disappointed we bought him out but the type of players Trotz has subsequently brought in are definitely a different breed than Joey/Duchene. Did we need to go scorched earth with them? Who knows for sure? Will it bite us? Probably not.
I'm not crapping on him, nothing I have stated hasn't been without a fact backing it up. I'm just saying lets not act like all of these weren't known and brought up when talk of signing him was going on.

We also can't overlook the fact Trotz wanted him gone for a reason. He didn't just wake up 3 days ago and decide, well you know what I think I'll just buy out Duchene for the heck of it.
 

Kat Predator

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Did you think Trotz would come right out and say “they’re decent players but neither one of them have the character I’m looking for to mentor the young players in this organization “? He did what any good manager would do, he thanked them for their contributions, said a few good things about them and the showed them the door.

It’s painfully obvious by now that Trotz doesn’t like either one of their character or the culture they fostered in the locker room.
That's exactly what I said.
 

Armourboy

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I'd also be interested in just how long those multi-year deals were and for exactly how much. Something tells me he may have gotten someone to offer him 4 years but I'm guessing it was something they could move or buyout pretty easily.
 

Bringer of Jollity

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I'm not crapping on him, nothing I have stated hasn't been without a fact backing it up. I'm just saying lets not act like all of these weren't known and brought up when talk of signing him was going on.

We also can't overlook the fact Trotz wanted him gone for a reason. He didn't just wake up 3 days ago and decide, well you know what I think I'll just buy out Duchene for the heck of it.
I wasn't trying to single you out even though I commented on some of the things you mentioned. I've just seen increased comments that implied a bad locker room guy, etc... when we don't have anything concrete on his time here to know. I think there's wiggle room to have the new guys being leadership/mentoring upgrades without assuming Duchene was necessarily a "problem," per se.
 
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Armourboy

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I wasn't trying to single you out even though I commented on some of the things you mentioned. I've just seen increased comments that implied a bad locker room guy, etc... when we don't have anything concrete on his time here to know. I think there's wiggle room to have the new guys being leadership/mentoring upgrades without assuming Duchene was necessarily a "problem," per se.
Like I have said before I don't really think there was really an issue as far as attitude or anything, but I think if there was anything it may have been how he did things off the ice as far as training and just commitment to the game itself. Part of that may include him just not really being a mentor that was trying to help the younger guys.

Obvious speculation but when you hear him talk about the guys coming in I get that it was more that type of thing than him being an issue in the locker room.
 

Porter Stoutheart

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I think I wrote it somewhere, don't know if it was this forum or a main one, but I imagine the issue with Joey and Duchene... and even if you go back to Granlund/Ekholm/Jarnkrok/Arvy/etc... is that when there are that many guys who have been together awhile in the same room, on long-term contracts, feeling comfortable... who is really pushing things?

I think it's like that at my office too. Some of us old "comfortable" guys, are kind of just leaning on our experience, while we also juggle kids, other stuff at home, and we aren't necessarily going as hard-core at the job as we could. We're still getting enough done, not just goofing off all the time or anything, but it doesn't really drive new innovation or breakthroughs if too many core guys are doing that at once. And it's a subtle thing. We'll all say, hey man, I'm meeting my deadlines, putting in my hours, getting my stuff done, earning my salary. Just like the players. But is that enough?

You have to have some "critical mass" of guys going harder in order to reach new levels. Now we've culled the herd so that the "critical mass" is no longer all in that "comfortable" life stage. There are more hungry kids, some new voices who are guys that go harder even with more experience, the tide has shifted. Or at least, we'll hope it has.

It doesn't mean the "comfortable" guys were bad people in any way. Or even truly slackers. Just within the sum of the parts the balance needed to change in order to make a more competitive whole.
 

Bringer of Jollity

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Like I have said before I don't really think there was really an issue as far as attitude or anything, but I think if there was anything it may have been how he did things off the ice as far as training and just commitment to the game itself. Part of that may include him just not really being a mentor that was trying to help the younger guys.

Obvious speculation but when you hear him talk about the guys coming in I get that it was more that type of thing than him being an issue in the locker room.
Yeah, we know about the music and his off-ice interests and stuff. I'm not sure if he knew about the buyout before the draft/awards, but your team is hosting it and you're one of the top players and you're on vacation with Landeskog (though Forsberg and Saros weren't around either, so).

Felt more like too comfortable, less interested in making hockey the #1 thing (and I won't blame any player for that), and you probably want leadership/mentorship that is going to beat the kids to the rink, kick their ass in practice, and mold them into the pros they need to be to succeed.
 

nine_inch_fang

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I wasn't trying to single you out even though I commented on some of the things you mentioned. I've just seen increased comments that implied a bad locker room guy, etc... when we don't have anything concrete on his time here to know. I think there's wiggle room to have the new guys being leadership/mentoring upgrades without assuming Duchene was necessarily a "problem," per se.

Like I have said before I don't really think there was really an issue as far as attitude or anything, but I think if there was anything it may have been how he did things off the ice as far as training and just commitment to the game itself. Part of that may include him just not really being a mentor that was trying to help the younger guys.

Obvious speculation but when you hear him talk about the guys coming in I get that it was more that type of thing than him being an issue in the locker room.

I think I wrote it somewhere, don't know if it was this forum or a main one, but I imagine the issue with Joey and Duchene... and even if you go back to Granlund/Ekholm/Jarnkrok/Arvy/etc... is that when there are that many guys who have been together awhile in the same room, on long-term contracts, feeling comfortable... who is really pushing things?

I think it's like that at my office too. Some of us old "comfortable" guys, are kind of just leaning on our experience, while we also juggle kids, other stuff at home, and we aren't necessarily going as hard-core at the job as we could. We're still getting enough done, not just goofing off all the time or anything, but it doesn't really drive new innovation or breakthroughs if too many core guys are doing that at once. And it's a subtle thing. We'll all say, hey man, I'm meeting my deadlines, putting in my hours, getting my stuff done, earning my salary. Just like the players. But is that enough?

You have to have some "critical mass" of guys going harder in order to reach new levels. Now we've culled the herd so that the "critical mass" is no longer all in that "comfortable" life stage. There are more hungry kids, some new voices who are guys that go harder even with more experience, the tide has shifted. Or at least, we'll hope it has.

It doesn't mean the "comfortable" guys were bad people in any way. Or even truly slackers. Just within the sum of the parts the balance needed to change in order to make a more competitive whole.

Yeah, we know about the music and his off-ice interests and stuff. I'm not sure if he knew about the buyout before the draft/awards, but your team is hosting it and you're one of the top players and you're on vacation with Landeskog (though Forsberg and Saros weren't around either, so).

Felt more like too comfortable, less interested in making hockey the #1 thing (and I won't blame any player for that), and you probably want leadership/mentorship that is going to beat the kids to the rink, kick their ass in practice, and mold them into the pros they need to be to succeed.
Quoting all of this to add that I agree and don't see Johansen or Duchene as locker room problems just not the type of or level of influence that Trotz wanted. He did have two months of travel with the team to witness first hand. Another reason you have to praise Piile for the way he's handled the end of his career.
 

Armourboy

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Yeah, we know about the music and his off-ice interests and stuff. I'm not sure if he knew about the buyout before the draft/awards, but your team is hosting it and you're one of the top players and you're on vacation with Landeskog (though Forsberg and Saros weren't around either, so).

Felt more like too comfortable, less interested in making hockey the #1 thing (and I won't blame any player for that), and you probably want leadership/mentorship that is going to beat the kids to the rink, kick their ass in practice, and mold them into the pros they need to be to succeed.
Well and it's not like a factory job where you can just come in, clock in, get your paycheck and go home. You take that route in professional sports and you are always going to be behind the 8 ball.
 

glenngineer

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Quoting all of this to add that I agree and don't see Johansen or Duchene as locker room problems just not the type of or level of influence that Trotz wanted. He did have two months of travel with the team to witness first hand. Another reason you have to praise Piile for the way he's handled the end of his career.
I think both of them are fun locker room guys that keep it loose. At the same time, you need guys who will play the right way, show up early, leave late and at this point in time, Trotz saw a glaring need there and felt that was more important than production on the ice. If he gets the kids to play and prepare the right way, the production will come.
 

Enoch

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Its not every day you cut 40 goal scorer from the year prior, who are still in a good point of their career.

This is likely a blunder, especially given the high amount of cap hit we are absorbing over the next 6 years and very real money we are paying.

Duchene will likely do well this year, and get a very good contract the year after.

We didn't need the cap space. If we did, we took the worst possible tool to acquiring it.

Trotz wanted to change the culture, sure, but how much was Duchene the problem? I don't know that he was the problem at all. He was effective in the playoffs and scored goals/points.

With that said, what is done is done. The team wanted to move on from him, and they have. I look forward to seeing ROR.
 

Armourboy

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Its not every day you cut 40 goal scorer from the year prior, who are still in a good point of their career.

This is likely a blunder, especially given the high amount of cap hit we are absorbing over the next 6 years and very real money we are paying.

Duchene will likely do well this year, and get a very good contract the year after.

We didn't need the cap space. If we did, we took the worst possible tool to acquiring it.

Trotz wanted to change the culture, sure, but how much was Duchene the problem? I don't know that he was the problem at all. He was effective in the playoffs and scored goals/points.

With that said, what is done is done. The team wanted to move on from him, and they have. I look forward to seeing ROR.
Like I've said previously these moves weren't about doing well it's about doing things right. We may get some inkling of what the issue was down the road but for right now everyone is doing the responsible thing and just moving on.

Trotz said we would be taking a step back most likely and I think production wise that's definitely going to be the case with Duchene.

Poile has been dangling him for a while as well though, and it may have just been about money with Poile, but it tells us it's not just a Trotz thing either.
 

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