When NHL players get time off at mid-season after spending several months mostly indoors, many will de-camp to a beach resort to unwind and load up on some much-needed vitamin D.
Not Matt Duchene. At the 4 Nations break, the Dallas Stars center and his wife packed up their three kids – ages six, four and two – and headed north. Destination: Duchene’s hometown of Haliburton, Ont.
Nestled in Central Ontario’s cottage country, about three hours northeast of Toronto, Haliburton has a quieter and quainter vibe than Muskoka. If you head up as soon as hockey season is over, you might be the only boat on the lake before the action starts picking up on Canada Day.
Those summer days are sunny and balmy. But in February, the thermometer doesn’t get above freezing, and the daily agenda looks very different from Cabo.
“Skating on the lake is different from anything else,” Duchene said. “You feel like a kid again. Getting in an ice hut with my dad and my son, catching some trout, it was special. They had a blast being around family and friends, and it’s easy. They’re in their own beds, and they’re used to being at the cottage.”
No longer a kid himself, Duchene has passed 1,100 NHL games and ranks second in his 2009 draft class in both goals and points, behind only John Tavares.
Selected third overall by the Colorado Avalanche, Duchene jumped straight to the NHL at 18, living with veteran defenseman Adam Foote and learning what it takes to be a pro.
“I don’t think I even realized how much I was a fish out of water off the ice,” Duchene said. “You don’t know what you don’t know.”
After playing just eight playoff games in his first eight full seasons in Denver, Duchene requested a trade in hopes of finding more post-season success. Early in 2017-18, he was dealt to the Ottawa Senators, staying for parts of two seasons before moving on to Columbus at the 2019 deadline. That April, he scored his first three playoff goals and experienced his first series win when the Blue Jackets swept the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Tampa Bay Lightning in one of the biggest playoff upsets in NHL history.
With a love for country music and the family oriented lifestyle that’s the hallmark of the U.S. South, Duchene signed a seven-year UFA deal with the Nashville Predators on July 1, 2019. He logged a personal-best season in 2021-22, with 43 goals and 86 points. But when three first-round playoff exits were followed by a playoff miss in 2023, the Preds bought out the last three years of Duchene’s $56-million deal.
Though he was blindsided by the buyout, Duchene bounced back quickly. Just two days after the news broke, he inked a one-year pact with the Stars at a bargain $3-million cap hit. Dallas offered the southern lifestyle that suited him and his family, and pre-existing relationships through Hockey Canada with key Stars personnel, including GM Jim Nill, coach Peter DeBoer and assistants Steve Spott and Misha Donskov, also helped make the Lone Star State a good fit.
As Duchene delivered smart, solid two-way play at a team-friendly price point, the passionate and growing Stars fan base embraced their new center.
“It’s been a really soft place to land after probably the hardest thing I’ve gone through in my career,” Duchene said.
Over the years with Team Canada, Duchene won Olympic gold in Sochi in 2014 and two World Championships (2015 and 2016). He’s now a Stanley Cup away from joining the Triple Gold Club – but he’s also among the 10 most experienced players still looking for their first NHL title.
As consistent contenders knocking on the door over the past few years, the Stars offer a golden opportunity to check that box. And last spring, Dallas’ 19-game playoff run to the Western Conference final was the longest of his career, and it was just the second time he’d gotten out of the first round.
Duchene’s personal highlight was his series-winning goal in double OT of Game 6 in the second round to eliminate his old friends in Colorado. But the eye-opener was the first-round, seven-game slugfest against Vegas.
After the Golden Knights took out Dallas in the West final before going on to win the Cup in 2023, the magnitude of the rematch was crystal clear, even to a newcomer.
“I think every team and every person in this league has a dragon they need to slay,” Duchene said. “That was ours, and it was by a hair. I’ve never played hockey like that, where it literally felt like nearly every shift was a tie. I think that series took years off my life. I don’t think I’ve ever been so stressed out playing hockey.”
Call it a good kind of stress? Last July 1, he re-upped on another one-year deal at the same $3-million cap hit.
“It was definitely not a situation where we even looked anywhere else,” he said. “There was so much unfinished business. The hockey is what I’m looking for right now, and I only get to do this so much longer. I’m trying to win. I’m trying to fulfill my potential and feel good about what I did in my career.”
In early March, a two-assist night and first-star performance in the Stars’ 4-1 road win over the Vancouver Canucks brought Duchene to 66 points in 64 games, one more than last season, and kept him tied with Jason Robertson atop the team’s leaderboard.
“With the adversity we’ve had with injuries, if he doesn’t play the way he’s played all year, we wouldn’t be in the spot we’re in in the standings,” DeBoer said. “He’s given us big-time minutes and big-time production all year.”
As the Stars prepared for another run through the Western Conference playoff gauntlet, Nill took the most significant trade-deadline swing of the year when he acquired Duchene’s old Colorado teammate Mikko Rantanen from the Carolina Hurricanes in a deal that included an eight-year contract extension for Rantanen.
A month earlier, Nill had acquired two other former teammates of Duchene’s. Mikael Granlund was a frequent linemate in Nashville, and Cody Ceci was a familiar face from Ottawa, added for defensive depth following Miro Heiskanen’s late-January knee injury and subsequent surgery.
Now in his 16th NHL season, Duchene hopes that once his kids are a little older, he can serve as a mentor himself.
“Because someone did it for me, I would love to do it at some point down the road,” he said. “I was definitely someone who rode that rollercoaster and really felt the ups and downs. I manage way better now, and if I can help a young guy get there a little quicker than I did, then what I went through is worth it.”
He also dreams of the day he can bring the Stanley Cup home to Haliburton.
“The people there eat, sleep and breathe hockey,” he said. “It would be incredible to bring that back to so many people that have been part of my journey in so many great ways and to bring it to a town that is extremely humble and hardworking. It’s shaped so much of who I am and my values.”
This article appeared in our 2025 Top 100 NHLers issue. This issue focuses on the 100 best players currently in the NHL, with the Avalanche's Nathan MacKinnon sitting atop the list. We also include features on Alex Ovechkin finally beating Wayne Gretzky's goal-scoring record, and former CFL running back Andrew Harris' switch to semi-professional hockey. In addition, we provide a PWHL playoff preview as the regular season nears its end.
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