Matt Duchene

The Senators made a blockbuster deal years ago that looked brilliant at the time, but the long-term fallout is now impossible to ignore. Lassi Thomson's emergence and trajectory have exposed just how lopsided this trade actually was in hindsight. What seemed like a savvy rental move has become a cautionary tale about the true cost of deadline desperation. The Senators front office is learning a hard lesson about how these deals can define a franchise's direction for years to come.

The Ottawa Senators' decision to trade Matt Duchene is now looking like one of the worst moves in franchise history, with the return they received failing to materialize into the kind of impact players that could justify the loss of a star center. Lassi Thomson, who was a key piece of that return, has become a focal point in discussions about how badly the organization miscalculated the value of what they were trading away.