Colorado Avalanche center Matt Duchene and New York Islanders center John Tavares meet up tonight at the new Barclay Center in Brooklyn. Both are from the same draft year, 2009.
When two players are very talented and get drafted the same year, it’s inevitable that comparisons arise. New York Islanders center John Tavares went first-overall in the same year that the Colorado Avalanche drafted Matt Duchene third-overall, 2009. In between the two came defenseman Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Now, it’s become legendary that Matt Duchene wanted to wait until the third position in the draft so that he could get picked by his childhood favorite team, the Colorado Avalanche.