Turns out Nashville Predators general manager Barry Trotz was right: Matt Duchene does want to retire in Nashville.

Duchene said Thursday his "game plan as of now" is to live here when his playing days are over.

The unintentionally ironic underlying tone of those words was unmistakable.

Last July 1, a day after he'd arranged for Duchene's massive buyout, Trotz let fly the following when talking about free-agent signees Ryan O'Reilly, Gustav Nyquist and Luke Schenn:

"I don't want you to come to Nashville to retire," Trotz said. "I want you to come to Nashville to win."

Trotz didn't attach Duchene's name to those words, but the inference was clear: There was a new GM in town and he didn't want Duchene on his team.

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Duchene said he was caught by surprise, said he "never cried so much in my life." The move left him scrambling to find a new team, which turned out to be the Dallas Stars.

"No," he said when asked if he had any inkling a buyout was on the table. "Zero. None."

Duchene was back in town this week to play at Bridgestone on Thursday for the second time since he was ushered out. The first time was in December, when he and his family stayed in their home here to celebrate Christmas.

"Obviously they wanted a total shift in direction, I guess," he said. "I guess I was a casualty of that, like half the team was.

"There's a fine line of taking it personally and understanding it's a business. I'm probably still sorting through that. But at the end of the day I'm going to bet on myself all day long."

Duchene takes stage at Tootsies

Duchene found himself on a stage of the musical variety Wednesday night at Tootsies, across the street from Bridgestone Arena.

There was he surrounded by his new coaches, his new teammates and their mothers, who watched and listened to him strum Morgan Wallen's "Whiskey Glasses" on his guitar. And try to sing it.

"All the boys wanted me to get up there," Duchene said. "One of the coaches was bound and determined to get me up there."

In addition to his performance this season on the ice — 19 goals and 31 assists — Duchene has impressed his new team off it.

"We've seen it a couple times now," Stars coach Peter DeBoer said of Duchene's guitar chops. "We had a team function in Palm Springs to start the season and he broke it out and he was on stage again last night. He's got some good stuff."

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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Matt Duchene, in town with Stars, wanted to stay Nashville Predator