Matt Duchene’s historic month earns him NHL’s Third Star of November

After Matt Duchene‘s electric month of November, his slow start to the season seem like a millennia ago.

Over the last four weeks, Duchene totaled 20 points on 11 goals and nine assists, all of which put him into historic company and earned him one of the NHL’s top honors.

Not only is this the first time Duchene has ever earned one of the NHL’s monthly honors, but he’s only the fourth Avalanche player to ever take home one of the league’s “Three Stars”; Chris Stewart was the last, as he was named the third star in October 2010.

Duchene’s 20 points in 14 games last month were the most in any single month of his career, and the highest Avs’ total since Paul Stastny back in March of 2010. Likewise, his 11 goals broke Claude Lemieux‘s long-standing record for goals in the month of November and was the highest total for any month since Milan Hejduk had 12 all the way back in March 2003.

And with these numbers, Duchene is inching towards some of the Avalanche greats. After notching his 138th career goal against Winnipeg last Saturday, Duchene has now moved into a tie for 11th place on the franchise’s all-time goals list. Similarly, his 202 career assists (13th all-time) and 340 points (11th all-time) continue to climb towards historic levels.

Earlier this season, rumors began to circulate about a Duchene trade, but those should all but be put to bed by now. The former No. 3 overall selection is still an integral part of this Avalanche franchise, and he should continue to be for a long time to come.