We watched Matt Duchene grow up in Colorado. Now it’s time to let him go.

He joined the Avalanche as an immensely talented and admittedly naive 18-year-old center who unabashedly idolized Joe Sakic, the general manager now shopping Duchene as the Feb. 28 trade deadline approaches.

As the team leader in goals scored, Duchene is among the painfully scarce reasons to watch the league’s most gosh-awful team. But he is prepared to leave Colorado, ready to embrace the fresh start a trade to a new NHL city could bring.

“I’m open to it,” Duchene said Wednesday. “When I say open to it, I know it’s part of the business, and it’s something that might happen. I’m not hiding from it. I’m not running away. I’m not banging my head. I understand it’s part of what we deal with as pro athletes.”

As we talked, Duchene sniffled and wiped his nose while contemplating a departure from the only NHL franchise he has known. But Duchene was fighting the lingering effects of a nasty bout with the flu, not his emotions. Just to make certain, I asked: Is it tougher to deal with a queasy stomach or the uncertainty of swirling trade rumors?

“The stomach flu. For sure. Big time,” replied Duchene, laughing. “The trade rumor stuff is part of the business. I understand that at this juncture of the season, (with) the way things are going, something may happen, something may not. We’ll see.”

The Avs are a wreck. Expecting a quick fix is folly. They need to rebuild from the ground up. No asset has the potential to bring more back in trade than Duchene, a reliable 25-goal scorer in a scoring-starved league.

The question for Sakic: Can the Avs get a top-line defenseman and more (a prospect, a draft pick) in return for Duchene?

There are certain to be higher-profile names bandied about, but Colorado might want to start its search to beef up the blue line with Jaccob Slavin of the Carolina Hurricanes. Slavin is a big 22-year-old Denver native who played for Colorado College before taking his skills to the NHL.

Duchene and the Avalanche can’t go on this way together. Familiarity does build contempt. Now in his eighth season with Colorado, Duchene has qualified for the playoffs only twice, and his face has become associated with too much losing, even if the anger in this frustrated hockey town would be more appropriately directed at years of chronically inept drafting and benignly negligent ownership that has demanded little of the Avs since Pierre Lacroix departed as the architect of Stanley Cup champions.

Make no mistake: Duchene is a winner. And he has the gold to prove it. He has won first-place medals as a valuable player for Team Canada in competitions around the globe, from the Olympics to the world championships.

When looking in the mirror, does Duchene see the player that has been wildly successful on international ice sheets or the NHL star unable to carry the Avalanche on his shoulders?

“It’s been really tough to have any taste of success at the NHL level as a team,” Duchene said. “Thankfully, I’ve been able to have (success) at the international level with Team Canada. And it’s something that has given me some really good experience. I know when this team, or whatever (NHL) team I’m on, is ready to win, I know I’ll be able to bring some experience to it. That’s something that fuels me, and it keeps me positive.”

It’s a weird vibe in the Colorado dressing room, where there’s a clock on the wall tracking time, but no meaningful present for a last-place hockey club already dreaming about next season. On the morning of his team’s final game before the all-star break, Duchene wore an Avs ballcap on his head. But the hat’s black brim could not conceal eyes prepared to say goodbye to a franchise that has lost its way.

“Where we’re at, it’s really hard. It’s tough for everybody. Waking up in the morning, it’s not the same excitement going to the rink,” Duchene admitted. “I love to play the game, and love the game for what the game is. But at this point, it’s hard. It’s hard knowing where we are right now and what our future holds. It’s really difficult.”

Duchene has not demanded a trade. There’s too much heart inside the No. 9 on his Colorado sweater to quit on teammates. But he’s ready for something new.

“I’m a member of the Avalanche today,” said Duchene, professing great pride in taking the ice in the Pepsi Center. “Who knows what tomorrow holds?”

Doesn’t everybody already know the answer? It’s time for Duchene to move on.