Duchene excited to be in Dallas

Like a few of his new teammates, Matt Duchene is looking to turn lemons into lemonade.

The 32-year-old center was bought out by the Nashville Predators before free agency began and then quickly turned around and signed a one-year $3 million deal with the Stars. While the entire experience was difficult, Duchene said he is looking forward to his future.

"It was probably the craziest 48 hours of my life," Duchene said on Thursday in Frisco. "Obviously, everyone knows how rooted we were in Nashville, and how that was a long-term plan for us, but you know the old adage, `Man plans, God laughs,' and that was very true."

But there could be a silver lining to this cloud, as Duchene is joining a team who finished seventh in scoring and was able to achieve career seasons out of players like Jason Robertson, Roope Hintz, Miro Heiskanen and Jake Oettinger. The team also saw great performances from veterans like Jamie Benn and Joe Pavelski, and that's something Duchene can relate to.

A veteran of 976 career regular-season games with Colorado, Ottawa, Columbus and Nashville, Duchene knows about adjusting to change and making the best of tough situations. Dallas has a few players just like that. Pavelski was not offered a new contract after 13 seasons in San Jose and then decided to sign with the Stars. Ryan Suter was bought out in Minnesota and saw Dallas as a great option. And coach Pete DeBoer was fired in Vegas, only to bounce back the very next season with the Stars.

"This is a business," Duchene said. "You look at Joe, you look at Suter, you look at Pete, those are some of the best people in this business at what they do. If it can happen to people like that, it can happen to anybody."

And it does create some strong emotions. Duchene had two years remaining at $8 million a season, so the Predators will be paying him to play for a divisional rival. That said, Nashville is in a different place and is rebuilding, so it balances things out.

"When a team tells you they don't want you anymore, it's tough, right?" Duchene said. "It's a business thing - a new GM comes in and wants to switch things up. If it's just yourself that's out of there, you might take it a little different, but when it's half the team . . ."

It helps that Duchene does get to step onto a roster packed with talent. Robertson had the second-best scoring season in franchise history with 109 points (46 goals, 63 assists). Hintz had a career best with 75 points (37 goals, 38 assists). Jamie Benn had a bounce-back season with 78 points (33 goals, 45 assists) and Heiskanen doubled his point output from the previous season.

While it's early, you could project Duchene to play on a line with Tyler Seguin. The two right-handed centers could alternate between wing and center and could find some chemistry. Duchene said he has known Seguin since the two were youth playing in the Toronto area.

"The fact that you can step in right away and play with a guy like [Seguin] is pretty special," Duchene said. "There's not many places where you have options to play with a guy like that, play with a guy like Jamie Benn, play with a guy like Jason Robertson, Joe Pavelski, Hintz, [Evgenii] Dadonov, on and on."

And that means Duchene could make a long playoff run. He has played in just 32 playoff games, tallying 10 goals and 15 assists. He made it to the Second Round with Columbus in 2018-19 but fell in the First Round or missed the playoffs every other season.

"Just the opportunity to win right away," Duchene said when asked why he chose Dallas. "I haven't had the chance too many times in my career. I've been to the Second Round once, and that's something that has frustrated me. So, to be part of a team that has a lot of guys in their prime, a lot of guys like Pavelski and Suter, who haven't won yet and have that hunger at a really high level, it's really exciting to come into."

And that's a lesson of how to recover from adversity.

"It's really exciting to come into," Duchene said. "And again, I want to fit in, but I also want to come in and do what I'm being brought in here to do."

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Video: Matt Duchene meets the media upon arriving in Dallas is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika.