The 2023 NHL Draft was just last week and with the draft comes tons and tons of different moves going on within all 32 NHL teams. Teams will trade, free agency moves are made, literally anything that you can possibly think of probably happens right around the same time as the draft. Recently, the Dallas Stars were in the news a lot for making quite a few moves themselves; most recently, they signed Forward, Matt Duchene.
How will Matt Duchene impact the Dallas Stars and why do they need him?
Before we discuss why Dallas made this move and why it will be beneficial to their team, let’s take a look at some of Matt Duchene’s average stats since he first came into the league in 2009:
- Average Games Played: 61 (some seasons were a lot more or a lot less)
- Average Goals Scored: 19.75
- Average Assists Made: 26.75
- Average Points: 46.5
Overall, Matt Duchene has some pretty impressive stats, but like all players in the NHL, bad years mixed with injuries will happen, but it’s not about focusing on those bad moments; it’s all about how the players are able to bounce back and return back to their ‘normal player’ selves.
Duchene only signed a one year, $3 million dollar deal meaning that he’ll go back up for grabs around the same time next year. Right now, Dallas has this sort of win right now mentality and rightfully so. They’re a very good team and they clearly wanna win. They made it pretty far in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and it’s pretty clear that they had what it took to get there they just couldn’t get quite all the way there. But that’s exactly what they’re hoping for with their recent moves.
Here’s what Stars’ GM Jim Nill said about the move/signing:
"“No secret Matt Duchene, what he brings…He’s a puck possession guy, he’s got great speed, good on the power play, holds onto pucks, so I think we’ve improved our game that way. It really solidifies our top nine (forwards).”"
Duchene mentioned in a recent interview with TSN that Dallas checked a whole lot of boxes for him and that Dallas is a super similar city to Nashville, which is making him even more excited. When asked about the length of his deal, he did kinda sorta mention that this initial one-year-deal was sort of going to be like a tiny little test drive to see how he is with the team and then maybe, key word maybe then they can discuss something more long-term.
That should that be an interest to both the team and to Matt himself. By the time that his contract is up, the cap will also be going up, which may make another long-term move more possible. Duchene totally understand the business side of the NHL and welcomes this change. He’s also super excited to skate with his brand new team!
While Matt was originally super sad to be leaving Nashville (which he said will always be home for him and his family), he was also super excited to be joining a great team by being on Dallas! I think that this move will be great for the team. Although we lost Max Domi, which was a personal fave of mine, I do genuinely think that the Stars and Duchene will be able to hoist up the cup this year!
That’s a wrap on analyzing why the Dallas Stars decided to sign Matt Duchene to a one-year deal!
What do you think of this move? Obviously GM Jim Nill sees a ton of great qualities in Duchene that he will only bring to benefit the team and that’s great! Cheers to the 2023/2024 season for the Dallas Stars and Matt Duchene – hopefully the Stanley Cup gets hoisted up by the green and white!!