Five Years Later: 2019 Trades of Mark Stone, Matt Duchene Did Nothing to Help the Ottawa Senators Rebuild
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When it came to trades, Pierre Dorion took some big swings as general manager of the Ottawa Senators. He brought in some big names over the years; in several cases, they were here for a good time, not a long time.
Matt Duchene, Friday night's overtime hero for the Dallas Stars, was one of those players.
Dorion gave up a lot for Duchene. Heading out the door in November 2017 were a first-round pick (Bowen Byram), two former first-round picks (Kyle Turris and Shane Bowers), goalie Andrew Hammond, and a third-rounder.
For a year and change in Ottawa, Duchene was good, but the team was not. He had 107 points in 118 games, and the Sens apparently wanted to re-sign him, but he could see the dark days ahead in Ottawa and said he wouldn't be ready to decide until the summer. Translation: He'd seen enough and didn't want to sign here.
So the Sens traded Duchene to Columbus in February 2019, and today, they have nothing left to show for it.
Ottawa received the Blue Jackets' first-rounder, which would be Lassi Thomson. After 18 career NHL games, Thomson just pulled the chute on his hopes of an NHL career, signing in Sweden last week.
The Senators also received Vitaly Abramov, a former Gatineau Olympique sniper who played five career games with the Senators and seems perfectly happy now in the KHL.
And they got forward Jonathan Davidsson, who played six career games with the Senators and now plies his trade in Finland.
So, to recap, the deal was Lassi Thomson, Vitaly Abramov, and Jonathan Davidsson for Matt Duchene, who did this on Friday night.
No one is suggesting that Duchene was ever going to be a Hart Trophy candidate, but since leaving Ottawa, the guy has had 274 points in 352 games, and he's not done. He had a 65-point season this year.
Duchene wasn't the only excellent asset the Senators put up for sale in 2019.
The Senators had two big names in Duchene and Mark Stone and both were at the age where they had no interest in entering a rebuild. Ryan Dzingel was also on his way out, and had 44 points in 57 games. They should have been turned that spring into great parts for the rebuild.
But all three trades amounted to nothing.
Even the Ryan Dzingel deal with Columbus at the deadline that year, which was celebrated at the time, has nothing to show for it. The Sens got Anthony Duclair and two second-rounders, which they completely frittered away.
Duclair was allowed to walk after 87 games in Ottawa. Dorion gave up one of the second-rounders for Matt Murray. The other was given up for Derek Stepan.
There's also a chance the Sens may soon part company with the meager assets remaining from the Stone deal. Erik Brannstrom and Egor Sokolov are both RFAs.
What should have been a promising spring of potential renewal in Ottawa has quietly died on the vine, poisoned by disastrous asset management.
Meanwhile, five years later, Stone and Duchene remain in full bloom in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Stone won a Cup ring last year, and Duchene, Friday night's hero, has a good chance of winning one this year.