Jonathan Kozub/NHLI.
6:30 AM
All the warnings were heard by Matt.
They said that everything will change after you reach 30. Father Time can't outrun elite athletes.
Maybe not. The man is being made to wait.
His 31st birthday is in January and he is enjoying a career revival. It's not too soon.
Since being drafted third overall by Colorado in 2009, he has been an NHL scorer. The standard was to put up 20-plus goals and 55-plus points each season. Through 100 games before the season began, the free agent signed by Nashville had produced just 19 goals and 55 points.
The difference-maker the Nashville were expecting wasn't delivered.
Last season's lengthy injury absence tested the mental and physical strength of the man. There were days when it was dark. There were doubts. But never from him.
His energy was used to create a rebirth. With a line of Mikael Granlund and Filip Forsberg, and Matt Duchene, the team's leading scorer, has roared back to start the season with 13 goals and 24 points in 24 games. He scored a career-high 30 goals back in the year of Colorado.
He didn't have to worry that the heights would be impossible to reach again.
"I had a lot of people tell me when I hit 30, I would really notice a difference, so turning 30 was always my fear," said Duchene. It's like, 'okay, this isn't a big deal' now that I'm 30. I feel older in terms of experience and maturity than I did at 18, but I still love the game and have a passion for it. I feel like it's my first year in the league and I'm grateful for that. Things get tested when things aren't going well. I can see the forest for the trees this year because I feel great.
That wasn't always the case. He didn't arrive in Nashville without bumps along the way, but lately he's addressed some of his own demons.
Colorado missed the playoffs in all but two of the first eight seasons of Matt Duchene's career, and the Haliburton, Ontario native became increasingly frustrated with the team's lack of postseason appearances. The general manager of the Avs was asked for a trade in December. In November of last year, a three-team swap brought about that.
The Senators failed to qualify for the playoffs. The pending unrestricted free agent was traded to Columbus in February 2019. He signed a long-term, big-money deal with the Preds that came with certain pressures. He couldn't find a rhythm in Music City.
He says that he hadn't been able to get settled. "Because you come into a new team, and then there's a coaching change halfway through the year, and we have a COVID season last year, and I'm hurt." It has been a lot of different obstacles.
The worse he felt was when he struggled to perform. Hockey had always been his favorite sport.
He said that high expectations on yourself can weigh on you. Fans don't get to see that part of our job and it's also the thing that we love to do the most. The average person probably doesn't identify with their occupation as much as they should because it's been their life.
Hockey is my first love. I have always wanted to do that since I was two, three, four years old. It can be hard on you when you identify as that and it doesn't work out.
He knew he had to do more than just on the ice. That's when Woosley stepped into the spotlight.
Being apart from the team is the worst thing for an injured player. The second worst might be all you have to think about.
He didn't want to waste time wallowing after he was hurt. He turned to Woosley. After more than a decade in the NHL, Duchene could sense some issues he needed to "iron out," and credits Woosley for making him feel more "solid and secure" than ever before.
"I think some of that mental stuff is holding me back," he said. I don't want to get into too much of it because I want to keep it close to the chest, but I've had some stuff that I've recently figured out that was holding me back. At the end of the day, it wasn't anything I could do. I had to identify it and go from there. I feel good right now. I feel like I'm doing what I'm supposed to. I know there's more. I want to get to that next step, and I'll chase that until I'm done playing.
How he and other top-tier players are perceived is one of the things that's affected. Judgements are passed based on production instead of totality. The picture that paints on the outside has not always been the experience of the person.
A lot has gone on behind the scenes, he said. All people look at my numbers. Sometimes it's worse than the numbers show. It doesn't show what goes on behind the scenes that we have to deal with as pros and we're just evaluated on goals, assists and points as offensive players. I've always thought that I've just scratched the surface of what I can do in this league, and I've had a few starts where I wasn't where I wanted to be. There's more I can get to.
Hockey is my first love. Since I was two, three, four years old, that's all I wanted to do. It can be hard on you when you identify as that and it doesn't work out.
When he came back from his injury, he built up a lot of confidence for the first round of the playoffs. Even though he had one goal and three points in six games, he could feel the shift starting even then. The next thing was going to be something special.
I knew I had two ways to go into last summer after a year where I didn't produce nearly what I wanted to. "I could either say, 'okay, we'll see what happens' or I could really dig in and say, 'no, this isn't good enough, this isn't where I want to be'."
The choice was between the latter option and the former option. He came back to Andy O'Brien and brought a renewed focus to his client. While they didn't change anything about his training, he was on another plane.
O'Brien said there was a level of detail around his questioning. We had deeper conversations about how he was doing everything, just to make sure it was perfect, because he was sending me videos so I could look at things. I could definitely see an increase in his details, and that went hand-in-hand with his motivation. It's easy to anticipate when someone will have a big year because they are so aware of themselves. Matt was able to get feedback and turn it into understanding that he can apply in his work.
O'Brien knows how hard it can be to navigate when you have internal pressure to be great. O'Brien appreciated the new perspective that was brought to the table, and he's not surprised it's having an impact.
O'Brien said that it was almost like Matt's normal mode was in a state of fight or flight. He's under a lot of stress. He spent a lot more time thinking about the upcoming season and less time focusing on the last. I think he had his sights set on making a big mark now, and that really stood out for me. That might have made it harder for other thought patterns to distract.
To borrow a well-loved cliche, the man was very dialed in.
He said that he believes his best years are ahead of him. I want to be at that level when I'm 40 or 30 so I'm going to push and push until I get there. Success and failure are not final. My failures and successes in my career are not final. Failure is final if you let it be.
They were wrong about the downhilling of Duchene after 30.
He could have gotten more advice on how to change his stick.
The way his skates are sharpened, the way his stick is flexed, and the way he tinkers with his equipment are all things that Duchene is fond of doing. For all that open-mindedness, he refused to make a major adjustment. Until now.
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From the beginning of last year until now, I lengthened my stick. He said he added over three inches. I fought for that for a long time. I had some people who were close to me who were like, "hey, you should try this." I didn't want to go away from what I knew, so I was stubborn.
I said, 'I'm going to do this right now.' I added a couple inches to my stance and noticed a difference, being able to intercept pucks, poke pucks away and have more leverage. Over the summer, I added another inch.
The extra material immediately paid dividends. The early returns highlighted how much the NHL has changed since he started out, and why adaptation is so important to longevity.
He shortened his stick after three years in the league. Having the puck tighter in my body was more of an advantage. I've found that reach and leverage have increased in value with how well everyone skates now. I don't have to bend over as much with the longer stick. I can shoot more easily and that has resulted in more goals. I don't think I've ever scored as many goals as I have this year from just shooting as far out from the net as I have, just on shots.
There is data to support that. Most of the goals that were scored by Duchene came from below the hashmarks. In the year, he took 29% of his shots from the inner slot and 7 of 13 goals were scored from in tight. He scored four of six goals from below the circles, with 32% of his shot attempts coming from the slot.
Only four of his 13 goals came below the dots, and only 21% of his shots were from the inner slot.
The last couple years might have gone better if the pivoted sooner. Maybe not. The months after his return from injury were a turning point for him. He used the off season to reflect on his game and came back to Nashville knowing what to do next.
He said that he was playing more free and loose in the playoffs. That was a building block for me. It was the most important thing to go home in the summer and not think about things. I'm a person who analyzes and overanalyzes things in my career. I've done that too much and let my anxiety get the better of me. I left everything where it was this summer. I wasn't sure what this year would look like in terms of how things were left off last year.
Some answers were needed by Duchene. He went to the source.
In the lead-up to training camp, Duchene sat down with Hynes for some focused one-on-one conversations. The goal was to get things figured out right from the start, and it was the candidness of those meetings that led to the team's strong start.
"I give those conversations all the credit, in that both sides were willing to come together and make things work," he said. We all wanted the same thing, but it took a little bit of ironing out. We want to be a great team, but we also want the best for me. Being the kind of player that I am, and being depended upon on offense, I had to get back to producing the way that I'm capable of. There were some things we had to communicate on, and [Hynes] needed some things from me as well.
The increase in his minutes this season is something that helps him get the most out of himself, something that helps "big time" with him getting the most out of himself. The coach needed to see changes for the group to excel.
"I needed to understand what was being asked of me," he said. I was trying to do something that wasn't even the focal point of what was being expected. It was simpler than I had thought before, because of that clarity. I was willing to do all of it and it was all I could do. I told Hydes what I needed to be successful. When things were going well, there were always common denominators that I harped on. I think we've held up our end of the bargain.
The benefits of changing to a longer stick had been achieved.
On the "Robby & Rexrode" show last month, Hynes said the tete-a-tete he had with Duchene was about reinforcing the type of blue-collar work ethic he wants the Preds to play.
"The biggest thing is mindset," he said. "We talked about how he's a talented player, but you have to have certain work habits and competitiveness to be able to play minutes."
Clearly the message was taken to heart by the man. His linemate could tell something was different.
"He was working hard in training camp, it was really good," Granlund said. It's hard if you don't have a good season because you start pressing and you really want to try to do something out there, but sometimes you just start to do too much and things aren't going to go your way. The way he works and battles has been impressive and I'm happy for him.
What's good for him and other players is ultimately good for the team. The Predators had a great start, going 9-5-1 out of the gate, but things leveled off of late due to some consistency issues. The power play is still top 10 in the NHL, and the best players in the league, including Roman Josi, have been playing like it.
The conversations were respectful and we all got on the same page, and I know a lot of those conversations happened throughout our lineup. I think that has made a difference for our team. Our power play is a lot better, our top guys are living up to their potential, and that's awesome to see. It's helped us get to where we are so far in the season because we take a lot of pride in that.
There's one thing that is clear, and that is that this is just the beginning.
The NHL season is still in its infancy. If they simply extinguish into nothing, they will be forgotten.
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No one knows this better than the man. No one is more determined to keep the flame burning.
He said that there are things in his game that he has never done before. I think I can get to another level after that. That's where my drive is, that's my goal. My team needs that from me, and then I want that for myself.
If this season goes well, he could be on Canada's Olympic roster for the Beijing Games. He won gold with Canada at the Olympics in Russia in February, jumping into the lineup after a tournament-ending injury to John Tavares.
The dream that he has yet to accomplish is one that can only be realized on NHL ice. This may be the back half of his career, but he sees no reason why his best chapters can't be included. He needs to write an ending.
He said that winning the Stanley Cup is the ultimate goal and dream, and the better he can be, the better chance he gives his team to do that. What's good for the team is good for you. I'm looking at that. I'd love to be a part of bringing the Stanley Cup to Nashville, but I won't stop until someone tells me I can't.
