NHL trade deadline 2017: Avalanche still listening to offers on Matt Duchene, Gabriel Landeskog

We’re closing in on the 11th hour of the NHL trade deadline. With just one day left until the closing of the market, we’ve seen names big and small fly to contenders as teams stock up for the playoffs.

You know who we haven’t heard from in a bit, though? The Colorado Avalanche. Specifically, how Matt Duchene and Gabriel Landeskog are holding up amid the swirl of trade rumors. According to a few sources in the Denver area, there’s a lot of nervous energy around these next handful of hours.

Head coach Jared Bednar had this to say to Terry Frei of The Denver Post on the mood of the room.

“When you approach a deadline, the last couple of days, there’s a little bit of nervous energy and anxiety around the room for certain. And that’s probably for everyone, every team, even the teams that are in the playoffs because they’re anxious to see if they’re going to get something or do something. … With us, we’ve been dealing with the rumors for quite some time, so it’s still are they are. I think our guys have done a good job handing the outside noise that’s been coming our way. I don’t expect us to be any different [Tuesday], to be honest.”

Duchene, especially, has had trouble looking past the deadline, according to BSN Denver. The 26-year-old center is in the prime of his career and has spent the last seven and a half seasons on a middling Avalanche team. When asked pointblank about his desire to stay with Colorado, Duchene had this to say:

“Yeah, I mean, I…uh…I want to win,” Duchene said, with body language that was every bit as mixed as that answer looks in print. “Whatever it takes for that to happen, that’s what I want. That’s my answer I guess.”

As for the rumors themselves, the Avalanche are still listening to offers but there’s been nothing to make Colorado bite. Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic now holds the two biggest remaining trade deadline chips, but considering their worth far outclasses Kevin Shattenkirk, teams might not be able to pay the steep price.

Even teams rumored to be in on Duchene or Landeskog, like the Penguins are, could be scared off by the price. Pittsburgh did, after all, apparently balk at the relatively cheap price for Shattenkirk, and their salary cap situation would need extreme work to pull a deal off. Yet, the Capitals fired a shot across the Metropolitan Division last night that might as well have set off a divisional arms race, so who knows if that has shaken up things.

Just over 24 hours to go until the end of the deadline. Buckle your seat belts.