Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
As the Western Conference leaders, the Dallas Stars are in the pole position of their bracket as they start the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Most of the conversation regarding the team revolves around the young players, and with good reason. At 20 years old, 23rd pick Wyatt Johnston’s career numbers of 56 goals and 106 points lead all players from his 2021 draft class. Second-rounder Logan Stankoven also made an immediate impact after his call-up in February. And six-foot-four 22-year-old Thomas Harley has delivered a steady presence on the back end, to the tune of 47 points and more than 21 minutes of ice time a game.
But the veterans are worth noticing as well. According to the NHL, four of the league’s 16 longest-tenured active players without a championship all play for the Stars. No other team has more than two.
Ryan Suter is the leader, at 1,439 games through March 12, followed by Joe Pavelski (1,317), Jamie Benn (1,097) and Matt Duchene (1,041).
When Duchene was unexpectedly bought out by the Nashville Predators on June 30, 2023, the guitar-strumming crooner who leaned into everything that Music City had to offer needed all of one day to land on his feet.
“Dallas is a bigger city, for sure,” said the 33-year-old. “But that Southern kind of hospitality and community that we felt in Nashville is really prevalent. It just feels like a bigger Nashville — it really does.”
But the decision wasn’t based strictly on lifestyle for the father of three young children. Now with 1,056 regular-season NHL games on his resume but only 32 playoff contests over 15 years, the time has come to chase a Cup.
“The first thing you look for is a really good fit, hockey-wise,” he said about choosing Dallas. “I felt really comfortable with the coaching staff — familiarity with them from Hockey Canada over the years.
“I knew everybody except for Alain Nasreddine, our D coach. I knew Pete DeBoer, Steve Spott, Jim Nill, Misha Donskov — all of them really well from Hockey Canada, so that felt instantly very comfortable. And then just a team that you know has such a good core — not just for right now, a core for the future. too. It just felt like a really good decision.”
Early returns were terrific. In a deep forward group, Duchene’s ice time dipped a bit, but he stayed healthy, playing 80 games and chipping in 25 goals and 65 points as the Stars recorded their second-best season in franchise history.
Now, the real fun begins. After all that hard work, the Stars’ reward is a first-round date with the Vegas Golden Knights — the same team that took them down in the 2023 Western Conference Final and went on to win the Stanley Cup.
Duchene wasn’t part of that battle, but he’s well aware of the dangers. The longest playoff run of his career came as a member of the eighth-seeded Columbus Blue Jackets in 2019, who shocked the hockey world by sweeping the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Tampa Bay Lightning.
“You never definitely don’t count your chickens before they hatch in this league,” he said. “As good a season as we’re having, teams get knocked out in the first round all the time. I’ve been on one side of it when I was in Columbus with Tampa and then you watch Florida and Boston last year…”
It’s funny how Duchene’s career has unfolded. He was a luminous prospect, drafted third overall by the Colorado Avalanche in 2009. He’s also highly decorated at the international level, with gold from the World Cup of Hockey in 2016, the Olympics in Sochi in 2014, two titles at the World Championship in 2015 and 2016 and golds with Team Canada at the U18s and even the Spengler Cup during the 2012-13 lockout.
Since NHL players stopped going to the Olympics after 2014, the opportunities to join the IIHF’s Triple Gold Cup with wins at the Games and the Worlds, plus a Stanley Cup, have withered significantly.
Only 30 players have been inducted to date. And Duchene is one of a steadily shrinking group that checks those first two boxes — at least until a new group of Olympians is activated in 2026.
He’d love nothing more than to add the ultimate prize to his trophy case this spring — and grab the Triple Gold honor along the way.
“Hopes are high and that last thing to win, I guess, at this level of hockey is the Cup,” he said. “It’s the biggest one, the hardest one. And this is the best chance I’ve had, so I’m really excited.”
The Stars begin their quest against Vegas starting Monday at 9:30 p.m. ET at American Airlines Center.
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News Summary:
- 'That Last Thing to Win is the Cup': Matt Duchene Looks to Duplicate his Team Canada Success in Dallas
- Check all news and articles from the latest NHL updates.