Matt Duchene sent to Blue Jackets as NHL trade deadline kicks into gear

One of the NHL trade deadline’s biggest chips has been moved.

The Ottawa Senators sent forward Matt Duchene, along with defenseman Julius Bergman, to the Blue Jackets on Friday  in exchange for forward prospects Vitali Abramov and Jonathan Davidsson and a first-round pick, lottery protected in 2019.

Should Duchene, a rising free agent who was unable to get an extension done with the Senators, sign a new deal with the Jackets, Ottawa would get an additional first-round pick in 2020. He was famously part of a van full of players caught on tape ripping the Senators coaching staff in October.

Duchene, at least for now, joins a core of Columbus players in need of new contracts, with forward Artemi Panarin and goalie Sergei Bobrovsky long considered trade pieces leading up to Monday’s 3 p.m. deadline. GM Jarmo Kekalainen keeping all three could signal a big push for the franchise to chase its first Stanley Cup, though trading Panarin or Bobrovsky could help his team start anew.

The Blue Jackets are currently one point out of the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.

In 50 games this season, the former first-round pick — No. 3 in the 2009 draft — has posted 27 goals and 58 points and finishes his tenure in Ottawa with 50 goals and 107 points in 118 games after being part of a three-team blockbuster deal early in the 2017-18 season.

The good news is, the Blue Jackets are in Ottawa to play the Senators on Friday night, so Duchene won’t have to go far to meet his new teammates. His old ones will get a chance to say goodbye, though they might not enjoy facing off against him already, as Columbus plans to get him into the lineup for the 7 p.m. puck drop.