ARLINGTON, Va. -- Pierre-Luc Dubois was searching for answers after last season, and the Washington Capitals were searching for a center to play on one of their top two lines.
Each may have gotten exactly what they were looking for when the Capitals acquired Dubois from the Los Angeles Kings in a trade for goalie Darcy Kuemper on June 19.
Dubois views the trade and beginning of this season when Washington hosts the New Jersey Devils for its opener at Capital One Arena on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; MNMT, MSGSN) as an opportunity for a fresh start after a disappointing season.
“As soon as the trade happened, I kind of wanted to turn the page,” Dubois said last week. “There’s no sense in dwelling on the past. Every team I’ve been on, the circumstances have been different, my role has been different. … There’s sometimes lessons you can draw from the past, but sometimes you have to just leave it in the past.”
Dubois is excited about his role with the Capitals, centering their second line between Connor McMichael and Tom Wilson and playing on the first power-play unit. The 26-year-old hoped to play a similar role when he was traded to the Kings by the Winnipeg Jets on June 27, 2023, and signed an eight-year, $68 million contract ($8.5 million average annual value).
It didn’t turn out that way, though, and Dubois struggled. Playing mostly on Los Angeles’ third line, Dubois had 40 points (16 goals, 24 assists) in 82 regular-season games -- his lowest output in an 82-game season of his career -- after getting an NHL career-high 63 points (27 goals, 36 games) in 73 regular-season games the previous season with Winnipeg.
Dubois’ ice time average also dropped from 18:27 with the Jets in 2022-23 to 15:42 last season with the Kings, including falling from 3:37 per game to 2:07 per game on the power play. His power-play production correspondingly plummeted from an NHL career-high 23 points (11 goals, 12 assists) in 2022-23 to eight points (seven goals, one assist) last season.
His confidence sagged too.
“I think maybe last year when I got there and everything changes, sometimes maybe you start to think too much and you start to second guess and you start to wonder what’s going on,” he said. “Why aren’t you playing like you have before? It worked before, so why is it not working now? And then you start to question it a little bit.”
The Capitals saw what Dubois went through last season, but they, like him, viewed it as an aberration. General manager Chris Patrick said Washington tried to acquire Dubois before he was traded to Los Angeles in 2023, “and we weren’t on the list of teams that made the final cut.”
So, when Dubois became available again after last season, the Capitals weighed the risks, including the seven seasons left on his contract, and thought they were worth it to help fill a need.
“If we would have done this a year ago, we would’ve been ecstatic, as probably 15 other teams would’ve been,” Patrick said. “We think we know why he had a down year last year, and we can hopefully put him in a position where that doesn’t happen this year. And if that’s the case, we have the guy that we wanted, and the salary is the salary. If he performs the way he has in the past, it will be worth the money.”
With Nicklas Backstrom remaining out because of a recurring hip issue and Evgeny Kuznetsov gone (traded to the Carolina Hurricanes last season and now playing in Russia) following his extended struggles, Washington needed another center to complement Dylan Strome at the top of its depth chart. Dubois also fits the Capitals’ plan to get younger and remain competitive as they prepare for life after left wing Alex Ovechkin, their 39-year-old captain, and the rest of the remaining Stanley Cup championship core from the 2017-18 season, including Wilson and defenseman John Carlson.
“Obviously, we miss those guys, the talent and skill that ‘Backy’ and ‘Kuzy’ have,” Ovechkin said. “It is what it is. There’s nothing we can do with that. But [Dubois] has pretty good skill. He’s still learning. He still has good potential.”
The Capitals qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs as the second wild card from the Eastern Conference last season with 91 points (40-31-11). But they were reminded in being swept in the Eastern Conference First Round by the New York Rangers that Ovechkin, who is beginning his 20th NHL season and is 42 goals from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record of 894, needs a stronger supporting cast to help him.
“Especially for a team like us that is sort of retooling on the fly, if you’re not picking in the top five (in the NHL Draft), it’s really hard to find high, high, high-end centermen that can potentially score 35-40 goals and potential 90-point guys that can play against Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon, Brayden Point, go down the list,” Washington coach Spencer Carbery said. “So, people may look at Pierre-Luc and his career and playing for some (different) teams, but we feel like we can help a player that has potential to be one of those players that are really, really difficult to acquire.”
Selected by the Columbus Blue Jackets with the No. 3 pick in the 2016 NHL Draft, Dubois has 342 points (145 goals, 197 assists) in 516 regular-season games with the Blue Jackets (2017-2021), Jets (2021-2023) and Kings, and 27 points (11 goals, 16 assists) in 43 playoff games. He appreciates the show of faith from the Capitals after what he acknowledged was a down season for him.
“It’s my eighth season this year,” he said. “I had the one bad one last year, but there were six before that. Sometimes people forget easily, but that’s just the business we’re in. But it means a lot that the Capitals saw that season as it was. It was different circumstances, different season, different environment and it didn’t go to plan, and that’s just how life works sometimes.
“It’s not because something changed too much. It’s not because I’ve changed too much. It’s just because sometimes it doesn’t fit, and it doesn’t work.”
Washington has already seen some of what Dubois is capable of with his skating, offensive skill, 6-foot-4, 225-pound frame and strength during the preseason, in which he had three points (one goal, two assists) in three games.
“He’s got the ability to be a 1C or a really good 2C in this league,” Wilson said. ”I think he’s shown it. I think in camp you saw it. It’s always easier said than done. You’ve got to go out there and play games, but I’m really excited to play with him. He’s got the ability to make those special plays that you see from those top-end guys like Backy and Kuzy. He’s got that ability.”
Dubois isn’t approaching it as if he’s trying to fill Backstrom’s and Kuznetsov’s skates but is confident he can be the type of center the Capitals need. He reminds that he played on the first or second line for most of his career prior to being traded to the Kings.
“So, I guess it’s just coming back to before,” Dubois said. “What I’ve appreciated since I’ve been here is the staff and the players haven’t asked me to be or do something that I’m not. They’ve just asked me to come here and be myself; not more, not less, just be me. … I’m showing up here and I’m somebody who I like to have fun, I like to smile, I like to work hard, I like to compete. I think all those things go into the recipe for success.
“So, when I feel like the staff and the players have my back in that sense, then it helps a lot.”
