The Colorado Avalanche played their first 16 games of the season with a pair of distractions looming overhead. One was the Matt Duchene situation, and the other was the Global Series in Sweden. Now with both those things in the rear-view mirror, the Avalanche can focus exclusively on their game.
Having a player that didn’t want to play for the Avalanche around during training camp and the early parts of the season was a major distraction for the team. The questions about whether he’d show up to camp, the comments from Peter Forsberg suggesting Duchene should be benched and traded, and the endless media speculation cause quite a circus.