05_never_again
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What the Predators need to address this summer above all else is their woefully inept power play. Which is why their pursuit of Duchene is questionable, because he's never been a particularly effective player there despite all the skill he possesses, traditionally doing most of his damage at five-on-five with his speed off the rush. Of the 427 players who have seen at least 200 minutes of power-play ice time over the past five seasons, his 3.33 power-play points per 60 minutes rank 276th, in the neighborhood of players like Carl Soderberg, Mikael Backlund and Nikolay Goldobin. This isn't to say that he couldn't help them produce there, it's just that he never really has after being in the league for a decade now.
It's only worth pointing out because it seems like he's been an underachiever for most of his career. He's an incredibly fast, highly-skilled player, but he's never had a year where he was a truly dominant player.
Maybe, maybe not. It depends on the Duchene that we get. If we get the pouting, temperamental Duchene (I know he was on bad Colorado teams at the time, but still) he's like a 45-point guy. If you get good Duchene, he's a point-per-game guy. At $8m per, that's kind of steep but that price is to be expected. To me, he's always appeared to have the talent to be a 90 or even 100 point guy, but it's clear he isn't going to do that.We don’t need dominant, though. He’s going to upgrade our black hole of a second line and that’s what was important this offseason.
Maybe, maybe not. It depends on the Duchene that we get. If we get the pouting, temperamental Duchene (I know he was on bad Colorado teams at the time, but still) he's like a 45-point guy. If you get good Duchene, he's a point-per-game guy. At $8m per, that's kind of steep but that price is to be expected. To me, he's always appeared to have the talent to be a 90 or even 100 point guy, but it's clear he isn't going to do that.