New Jackets C Duchene to face Sens after trade
Columbus has traded for Ottawa Senators center Matt Duchene, the Blue Jackets announced Friday.
Duchene is set to make his Blue Jackets debut against his old team, as Columbus plays at Ottawa on Friday night.
Minor league defenseman Julius Bergman is also heading to the Blue Jackets, while the Senators will receive conditional first-round draft picks in 2019 and 2020, and prospects Vitalii Abramov and Jonathan Davidsson in return. The 2019 pick is top-three protected, while the 2020 pick is dependent on Duchene re-signing in Columbus.
Duchene, 28, is on the move again, joining his third team in two seasons after being part of an early-season trade in 2017-18 that sent him to the Senators from the Colorado Avalanche.
He has posted 27 goals and 31 assists in 50 games this season. Duchene missed two weeks in December with a lower-body injury.
Duchene was one of seven Senators players who were recorded in October criticizing the team’s poor play and assistant coach Marty Raymond. In the video, which was posted online, Duchene admitted to not paying attention during meetings Raymond led.
The players later apologized for their criticisms.
The Blue Jackets have yet to win a playoff series in their 17-year history, and this could be their chance to break through if they choose to keep left winger Artemi Panarin, who has said he will enter free agency after the season, and goalie Sergei Bobrovsky. Columbus entered Friday a point behind the Carolina Hurricanes for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.