Jackets Buy Into Duchene

		2019 Season				July 1, 2019
To Columbus	Pos	GP	Goals	Points	Cap	Years	Cap
Matt Duchene	F	51	27	58	$6m	0	UFA
Julius Bergman	D	0	0	0	$714k	0	RFA
----
To Ottawa	Pos	GP	Goals	Points	Cap	Years	Cap
Vitali Abramov	F	0	0	0	$745k	1	$745k
Jonathan Davidsson	F	0	0	0	$768k	2	$768k
Conditional 2019 1st Round Draft Pick
Conditional 2020 1st Round Draft Pick

It's not very often I get to use a picture of a player after he has been traded, but that's just how the timing went on this one.

The first of the big trade deadline dominoes, Matt Duchene, fell on Friday, as he was dealt from the Senators to the Blue Jackets in the morning.  The two teams were set to faceoff in the evening, so it was easy enough for Duchene to go right down the hall and get his new gear ready for the game.

Duchene and a prospect defenseman, Julius Bergman, went to Columbus for a top prospect in Vitali Abramov, another decent prospect in Jonathan Davidsson and two conditional 1st round picks, 2019 and 2020.

The numbers for Duchene this season have been really good, despite being on a poor Senators team, he was still able to post the points that made him an attractive player at the deadline, either as a rental or possibly to re-sign him long-term. 

Bergman has already bounced around from San Jose to Ottawa, now to Columbus and he has been a reasonable AHL defenseman in the last four seasons, still looking to make the jump.  Abramov really lit up the junior ranks in Quebec and is starting to find his pro game in the AHL, while Davidsson has been toiling in Sweden, since being a 6th round pick in 2017.

The picks are conditional, as to whether or not the Jackets miss the playoffs and win the lottery this year for the 2019 pick, which seems unlikely that they would miss the playoffs.  The 2020 pick will go to Ottawa, if Columbus can re-sign Duchene, which has to make this team more appealing for some of their other potential free agents.

Jesse got a good gain out of this move, as Duchene has been playing well this season and he moves to a pretty good team, which can really play some dynamic hockey at times.  Last night he centered Cam Atkinson and Artemi Panarin, which makes for a very dangerous combo, unable to put up a point in the game against his former team, but there are definitely some gains to come.  The real bonus is that Duchene didn't have to sit in last night's game or possibly even tomorrow's game, waiting on a deal.

In the standings, Jesse opens play on Saturday in 6th place, 36 points out of the money.