EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Pierre-Luc Dubois understands he is likely to receive a hostile reception from fans when the Los Angeles Kings forward plays the Winnipeg Jets at Canada Life Centre on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; TVAS, TSN3, BSW) for the first time since he was traded to Los Angeles by Winnipeg on June 27.
"If they're cheering my departure, I think I'd question a little bit more my time there," Dubois said Saturday. "But it is what it is."
Dubois played three seasons for the Jets. He had 143 points (63 goals, 80 assists) in 195 regular-season games and seven points (two goals five assists) in 12 Stanley Cup Playoff games, but the pending restricted free agent told Jets management he did not intend to sign long term. He was traded for forwards Gabriel Vilardi, Alex Iafallo and Rasmus Kupari, and a second-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft.
On July 4, Dubois signed an eight-year, $68 million contract ($8.5 million average annual value).
"It will be special, I'm sure," Dubois said. "I'm sure some fans will see it a little differently, but for me personally it will be special. I spent three great years in Winnipeg. My parents are going to be at the game. To play against some teammates and friends that I have from Winnipeg, it'll be a special game.
"It's so early on into the season, it feels like not that far. It happened yesterday, it feels like, but, yeah, special game."
It seemed that trading Dubois would be the Jets' first move in a major overhaul. Instead, they signed pending unrestricted free agents Mark Scheifele and Connor Hellebuyck to identical seven-year, $59.5 million contracts ($8.5 million AAV) Oct. 9.
"I was happy for the two of them, my first reaction," Dubois said. "Two guys that work extremely hard. Great players, great people, so for them to sign a contract it means they're happy, so I was happy for them, happy for their families. And, yeah, I texted 'em, will get to see them, congratulate them in person."
Dubois indicated the Jets' decision to re-sign Scheifele and Hellebuyck would not have changed his position on requesting a trade.
"There's a few things that were involved in the decision, but it was never dependent on others," Dubois said. "It was just a decision I made. But like I said, I was really happy for those two guys to sign a contract that they're happy with."
Dubois has previous experience returning to a place where he played before. Selected by the Columbus Blue Jackets with the No. 3 pick in the 2016 NHL Draft, he was traded to the Jets on Jan. 23, 2021, after saying he no longer wanted to play for the Blue Jackets.
Playing his first game as a visitor in Columbus on Nov. 24, 2021, Dubois admitted it was an unusual experience going into parts of Nationwide Arena he had never been to before.
"Columbus, I didn't even know what it looked like," Dubois said. "The away dressing room, the away everything."
Having made three previous trips to Winnipeg as a visitor during his four seasons with the Blue Jackets, scoring a goal in his last trip Nov. 23, 2019, Dubois has some familiarity with the surroundings for his first road game with the Kings.
It will still feel a bit awkward.
"It'll be weird warming up in a different spot again, away dressing room and all that," Dubois said. "I think the weirdest part will be warmups, seeing the guys on the other side and all that, but once the game starts you just focus on the 60 minutes."
Jets coach Rick Bowness said Monday he tried to convice Dubois to stay in Winnipeg, but moving on was the best for all sides.
"I had no problem with 'Dubie,' Bowness said. "I talked to him an awful lot, spent a lot of time with him ... but that wasn't going to happen no matter what.
"He made it no secret that he wasn't going to sign a long-term deal here. When he comes out and says that, he just didn't want to be here. He was going to move on when he could, so that's his choice, didn't want to be here. It worked out well for him and it's worked out really well for us, so we're happy."
Iafallo, who said it should be a "fun game," said he and his former Kings teammates have fit in well with the Jets.
“It’s been nice," he said. "Everybody’s been great helping us out, different systems, all that kind of stuff. It’s been an easy transition trying to understand more stuff. It’s been fun so far. We’ve been playing great, so we’ve got to keep at [it].”
NHL.com independent correspondent Darrin Bauming contributed to this report
