No Bad Blood for Matt Duchene in Leading the Avalanche in Post Patrick-Roy Era

TORONTO - Matt Duchene was enjoying a quiet summer day at his Ontario lake cottage on Aug. 12, hanging out on the dock with his fiancee and their dog. A bit of a news junkie, Duchene usually always has his phone with him to keep up on things, but on this afternoon it was turned off in another room.

"We were just hangin' out, chillin'," Duchene said. "But a little while later, my buddy called me and said, 'did you hear what's going on?' I had no idea what was going on." 

Turned out a lot was going on regarding his team, the Colorado Avalanche. His coach, Patrick Roy, had just shocked everyone by tendering his resignation with one year left on his contract. The coach whom Duchene raved about upon his hire three years ago, who led the Avs to a Central Division title his first season but slipped in the following two, didn't want to be in Denver anymore.

"I was definitely surprised," said Duchene, at the Air Canada Centre Thursday as part of media day at the World Cup of Hockey. "I don't think anyone saw that coming. But it happened and we just have to move on."

Roy, who is not being paid by the Avalanche but must ask its permission to seek another job for the coming season, indicated he didn't feel part of the decision-making process enough in team personnel and had other philosophical differences with general manager Joe Sakic in overall team direction.

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There was speculation Roy may have lost faith in some of his top players too, with Duchene's name included in such speculation. Roy, after all, publicly ridiculed Duchene after a game late last season for celebrating a third-period goal in what was a 4-0 deficit to that point against St. Louis. But the truth is, Duchene always had Roy's respect and one of the first people Roy called after announcing his decision was Duchene.

"We had a real good talk, and our relationship before that was great," said Duchene, who is skating on one of Canada's depth lines for the World Cup. "Everybody wanted to make a big deal out of what happened at the end of the year and it's like, we had a great chat right after it happened to make sure everything was good. Our relationship never wavered for a second through that whole thing. The media always wants to blow everything up, and make it look like it's two people against each other, and it was never that."

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Sitting just a few feet away from Duchene Thursday was Ryan O'Reilly, named earlier this week to the Canadian team in place of the injured Tyler Seguin. O'Reilly represented the previous summer of seismic change surrounding the Avalanche, when he was traded to Buffalo in a blockbuster. Now, the team is starting over in some ways, under a new coach, Jared Bednar.

The Avs have made the playoffs only twice in Duchene's seven years in Denver, and he's fully aware other big changes could happen if the playoffs again are missed. Bednar, with no previous NHL head-coaching experience, said he wants to play a high-pressure game that improves on Colorado's dismal puck-possession statistics.

Duchene said he had a half-hour chat last week with Bednar.

"We just talked about systems, stuff about me, the team, all kinds of stuff," Duchene said. "He seems like an awesome guy. I think his system sounds like the kind I've had a lot with Hockey Canada, so I think I'll be pretty comfortable with it once I get back there. Obviously, it's a big year for us. We've got to have a bounce-back. But I'm sick of talking about identity, I'm sick of talking about style. As a team, we've just got to do the things we need to do to win."

Adrian Dater covers the NHL for Bleacher Report