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When Matt Duchene told reporters on Tuesday not to sleep on the Ottawa Senators, who he predicted “can be a lot better hockey team than people are giving us credit for,” it sounded like the kind of lip service you give to a beleaguered fan base that’s been kicked far too many times when it’s been down.

Playoffs? C’mon, get real. Based on how poorly the summer’s gone for them, the Senators will be lucky to win 20 games.

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Then again, Duchene speaks from some unfortunate experience.

It was about a year ago when so-called hockey experts were predicting that the Avalanche would finish dead last after he was traded from Colorado to Ottawa in November for a package of prospects and picks.

And then the unimaginable happened. Ottawa, who also gave up Kyle Turris to Nashville in the three-team trade, went tumbling down the standings and finished with just 28 wins. Meanwhile, a Colorado team that had the worst record a year earlier went on a roll and grabbed a wild-card spot.