Jock Itch Dear Matt Duchene, thanks for making us feel old

The National Hockey League held its annual draft in Montreal last Friday, and the Colorado Avalanche had the pleasure of picking third overall. They were honored with such a high pick due to shoddy plays and bad goaltending in the prior season. But turning lemons into lemonade, the Avs chose Canadian phenom Matt Duchene, who may prove to be the key to the team’s salvation.

Most hockey pundits called it exactly how it happened—Duchene went to the Avs behind two other equally exciting youngsters: John Tavares, the expected No. 1 pick who went to the crappy New York Islanders, and Victor Hedman, a Swedish defensemen who went to the execrable Tampa Bay Lightning. Duchene, much to the Avs delight, may be the steal of this draft class. He supposedly has great speed, and although he was tapped for his offensive prowess, he doesn’t slack off when it comes time to play defense. It’s nice to know that with such a loaded draft class, the Avs brass couldn’t have blown this—unless they missed their flight to Montreal and sent a circus clown in their place.

Duchene will be good, but here’s the bad news: He may not even play for the Avs this season. If Duchene plays more than 10 games at the beginning of the season, the Avs have to keep him on the roster for the remainder of the year. It’s a bit risky for a young player who might not pan out right away, but most fans feel that Duchene will be able to handle the pressure of assuming the mantle of Avs savior fairly quickly. If not, at least he scored some free Avs jerseys to hang in his house. And that’s a good thing for Duchene, who grew up a hardcore Avalanche fan. It's like growing up a Star Wars fan and going to work for George Lucas’ Industrial Light & Magic. Except instead of making lame prequels to your cherished childhood memories, Duchene gets to make his favorite team better.

Duchene has framed jerseys of Avs greats Patrick Roy and Joe Sakic hanging in his Canadian home, and you can see a photo of him wearing an Avalanche jersey while posing in a veritable shrine to the burgundy and blue at the 23-second mark here:

To further illustrate Duchene’s deep interest in the team, he was quizzed at the draft on what kind of curve various Avalanche players use on the blades of their sticks, and he rattled off the correct answers like he was the equipment manager.

It's bizarre that our hometown hockey team has been around for such a long time—has it really been 14 years? Duchene was 4 years old when the Avs came to Denver, and now he may be playing alongside his childhood hero Joe Sakic—that is, if Sakic doesn’t decide to retire. But whether Sakic decides to go one more round on the Zamboni shouldn’t matter, because Duchene will eventually become the face of this franchise. And while he might not have been the top pick, he was certainly the top story. Welcome to Colorado, kid. Let’s hope the Avs stay your favorite team.