Locke Mayotte will be one of the unexpected winners after the Colorado Avalanche’s flurry of moves before the NHL trade deadline earlier this month.
Brandon Duhaime was one of four new additions to the Avs roster. The importance of his acquisition gained more clarity a few days later when the club announced Logan O’Connor needed season-ending hip surgery.
Duhaime arrived in Colorado to help bolster the Avalanche’s depth at forward and on the penalty kill. He’s one of those guys who embraces playing one of the more thankless roles on an NHL team.
How did he evolve into that type of player? Locke’s dad, Kris Mayotte, who is now the head coach at Colorado College, played an integral role in Duhaime’s development when he was an assistant at Providence.
“I love Dewey,” Kris Mayotte said. “Such a great kid, such a hard worker, very dedicated, doesn’t leave a stone unturned in terms of him trying to become the best player he can become.
“I was so excited to see that he got traded to Colorado. I sent him a text right away. I have a 2-year-old and I was like, ‘I can’t wait to get him a Duhaime jersey.’ We’re so excited that he’s here.”
Duhaime grew up in Parkland, Fla., near the Florida Panthers’ practice facility. He played on a youth team with Ottawa’s Jakob Chychrun and Boston’s Andrew Peeke. As they got older and sought better competition, Duhaime and Chychrun played for the Junior Everblades in Estero, Fla., which meant a nearly 150-mile commute across Alligator Alley every weekend.
Eventually, Duhaime moved to British Columbia and began a journey that included two years at a B.C. prep school, one year in the BCHL and one year split between two teams in the USHL. Originally committed to Brown, Duhaime re-opened his recruitment, and that’s where Mayotte comes in.
Duhaime had interest from Boston College and Michigan, but ultimately chose Providence over the University of Denver.
“(Mayotte) was huge in the recruiting process,” Duhaime said. “He was calling me all the time. When I got to Providence, he did the exact thing he said he was going to do. He helped develop me into the player I am. A huge shout out to those guys for kind of taking care of me and doing the right things for me.”
The pitch that helped lead him to Rhode Island centered around Duhaime’s style of play and what type of player he wanted to, or needed to become. Duhaime was a fourth-round pick in the 2016 NHL draft by the Minnesota Wild, but the chances of him developing into a frontline player at the highest level were slim.
The raw materials to mold a high-level role player were there, though. Duhaime has good size and above-average skating ability. But not every player who is always one of the best on every team he plays on as a kid can make that transition.
“He was always a sponge,” Mayotte said. “Wanted to watch the video, wanted any tip that you could possibly give him, whether it was diet, whether it was skills, whether it didn’t matter — he wanted it.
“A big part of what we were able to do was build that belief that you don’t have to be Macklin Celebrini or Connor McDavid to play in the NHL. They need guys that can kill penalties and be F1 on the forecheck and do those hard things. If you can become one of the best in the world at that, you get to play in the NHL. So it’s developing the skills that are required to play at this level, but also building in an understanding of what it means to find a role, embrace a role and excel at it.”
Duhaime thrived at Providence, helping the Friars to back-to-back berths in the Frozen Four. He signed with the Wild after his junior season and put in two more years of development time in the AHL.
This is his third season in the NHL, and it didn’t take long for Duhaime to become a fan favorite in the Twin Cities. The guy on the Avs whose style might resemble his the best is Miles Wood — big, fast and enjoys creating high-speed collisions with players in different-colored jerseys.
Duhaime had to play his old mates in his first game with the Avalanche, which is always a weird day but especially so when it happens so soon. Since then, it’s been a pretty seamless transition.
He’s made the penalty kill deeper. He’s helped make the fastest team in the league look even faster. And both he and Yakov Trenin look like the type of additions that pay big dividends when the games really start to matter in late April and beyond.
Related Articles
Avalanche Journal: Why fretting over where Colorado finishes or potential first-round foes might be a waste of time
Nathan MacKinnon, Valeri Nichushkin set new career highs as Avalanche blasts Blue Jackets
Avalanche’s trade deadline additions paying big dividends on the penalty kill
Avalanche Podcast: What to make of Nikolai Kovalenko, plus breaking down the college hockey postseason
Which Colorado team has the best odds to win a championship? (And which has the worst?)
“He fits well. He skates well. He’s tough,” Avs forward Andrew Cogliano said. “That’s a part of the game that you need to have some guys with some edge to them and he does. He knows what he is. He knows he has to kill penalties. He knows how to create momentum.
“For a lot of guys in the league, it takes a long time to figure that out. But he works hard. He’s a good player. He fits into our bottom six perfectly. He’s the type of guy you want on your team come playoffs. You lose a guy like (O’Connor), guys like him and (Trenin) can help make up for losing an important piece like that.”
Duhaime has been a welcome addition in the Avalanche locker room, and it also means he’s just a short drive up I-25 from one of the people who helped him get to this point.
“It’s exciting,” Duhaime said. “(Mayotte) took me out to a nice steak dinner last year in Minnesota. I went out with their team before they played in the Frozen Faceoff, so I had a chance to meet all of them. It’s a great staff. I’m not surprised with the guys Mayo is bringing that (Colorado College) is finding some success.”
Want more Avalanche news? Sign up for the Avalanche Insider to get all our NHL analysis.