Colorado Avalanche: Matt Duchene Struggling To Adjust

Matt Duchene, center piece of the Colorado Avalanche rebuild, is struggling.

After a very strong start his first 10 games, the third overall selection from the 2009 NHL entry draft have essentially been a ghost.

Not only has he been invisible on the ice, but he's not chipping in offensively at all. The first ten games of the season he scored six points. In the eight games since, he only has one point.

He's also a team worst minus-seven, and has been held shot-less three times in the last six games.

To make matters worse for Duchene, rookie counterpart Ryan O'Reilly has taken the NHL by storm. He's been arguably the most clutch player for the Avalanche, and has been phenomenal in the defensive zone-and subsequently has a plus-13 rating, second highest in the entire NHL. 

But, just like it's unfair to compare one's children, it's unfair to compare Duchene and O'Reilly.

Duchene's game is completely speed and finesse, and this type of game is usually takes longer to translate into the NHL, given the opposition is bigger, stronger, and faster.

Case and point: Steven Stamkos, drafted first overall by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, had similar trouble adjusting to the NHL. It took him 19 games before he registered his seventh point, and for the most part just looked out of place.

Eventually, he adjusted. Stamkos finished the year with 19 points the final 20 games of the season, and hasn't slowed down at all: He's scored an eye popping 12 goals in only 15 games this season.

The hope is Duchene can go through a similar transition eventually.

What it is absolutely not time to do, as I've seen many fans suggest, is take his ice time down even further. It's low enough; in last games loss to Edmonton, the only forwards with less ice time were Koci, Hendricks, Hensick, and Dupuis.

As for now, Duchene needs to get back to the basics and try to make things simple again. Right now he's squeezing his stick too tightly; passing when he has shooting opportunities, dekeing when he should dump and chase, and losing nearly every face-off he takes (37.5 percent win rate).

The reason for this can be attributed to one of two things: Duchene has stopped trying as hard now that he's made the team OR the euphoria of playing in the NHL has died down and the grind of an 82-game season has started to take it's toll.

I tend to believe it's the latter.