Dubois getting 'back to normal' with Jets after season of turmoil

WINNIPEG -- Pierre-Luc Dubois said he was certain he would rediscover his game after an erratic first season with the Winnipeg Jets.

All it took was a little more focus and a little more, what he called "normal."
"There are some guys in the NHL, it comes naturally to them, they don't need to work out as much, they can do whatever, it's natural for them," Dubois told NHL.com on Tuesday. "That's not me. Me, I have to work hard in the gym. It's a huge part of how I play and how well I can play."
The Jets love this new normal from the 23-year-old center, who has scored 50 points (25 goals, 25 assists) in 65 games this season, averaging 18:54 of ice time per game, the highest of his NHL career, and building chemistry with linemate Kyle Connor, who ranks tied for fourth in the NHL with 40 goals.
It's a profound bounce-back from the 20 points (eight goals, 12 assists) Dubois scored in 41 games with the Jets last season. He struggled before and after he was traded with a third-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft to the Jets by the Columbus Blue Jackets for forwards Patrik Laine and forward Jack Roslovic on Jan. 23, 2021.
Dubois hopes to continue his strong play when the Jets host the Blue Jackets at Canada Life Centre on Friday (8 p.m. ET; TSN3, BSOH, ESPN+, NHL LIVE).

The 2020-21 season was anything but normal for Dubois. After his offseason training was disrupted by testing delays and quarantine required for travel because of COVID-19, he was surrounded by controversy during camp over his unwillingness to sign a long-term contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets.
He scored one goal in five games before he was benched by coach John Tortorella for the final 44:36 of a game against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Jan. 21, and was traded two days later. But even after that, there was more quarantining and an injury, all in a season where getting to know his new Winnipeg teammates was difficult because of all the restrictions away from the rink.
"The summer before, to have the worst summer of my life in terms of working out, then to having a normal summer before this season, working out normal, skating normal and I didn't have to take four or five day breaks, just so different," Dubois said. "I didn't put any more pressure on myself or change anything, I just knew that I was back to normal life and my normal routine."
His teammates aren't surprised he's regained the form that led to him scoring at least 48 points in his first three NHL seasons with the Blue Jackets.
"You could tell [the rebound] would happen," Jets center Mark Scheifele said. "You've got to have a great support system or things like last season will eat away at you. And then it's got to take a strong person, a strong character, and he has that. He has the character to be able to push through that and go work on his game.
"He came back into the season in great shape, looking good on the ice and right off the bat, you could tell he was more settled. I could tell right away. And then you got to know how his summer went and all that stuff and it's showed. And look where he is now."
That would be on a go-to line building chemistry and playing a role in Connor's NHL career-best season.
"I think he's really taking ownership of his game, understanding what his game is and being more comfortable with it," Connor said. "I think that's playing with speed, lowering his shoulder, taking pucks to the net. That creates so much havoc, so much chaos off the rush. He's taking a leadership role on this team. He's a lot more vocal in the dressing room. Just next to him on the bench, we're talking more, feeding off each other. I think we are just more engaged in the game."
Eric Dubois is in his sixth season as an assistant with Manitoba, the Jets' Winnipeg-based affiliate in the American Hockey League. In 11 seasons prior to that, the former minor-league defenseman was also a coach and an assistant in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
He said he knew that his son's engagement was off last season, amplified by the scrutiny caused by the No. 2 pick of the 2016 NHL Draft (Laine) being traded for the No. 3 pick (Dubois). And like his son, he was pretty sure it would get fixed.
"His focus has always been good," Eric Dubois said. "I think [last season] was tougher on me and my wife than it was on [Pierre-Luc]. He's good at not letting things rattle him. He's a lot better at that than I was when I played. And me working for the organization, I wanted him to do well. And I know the impact that Patrik Laine had in Winnipeg. But after the season was over, it didn't affect him. He's really good at not caring what people think, or the media.
"He wants to make a difference. I think his biggest quality is how competitive he is, the fire in his belly. I did not see that last year. I felt he was just playing to play. So I knew he was in trouble when I could not see that fire and competitiveness, or only for maybe five games or so. He's a bad loser. He wants to get better at different things and every player should try to get better. But his competitive spirit is awake and he feels he's important to the team. His mindset after last season was right from the get go. I knew he'd learn from that tough season."
Pierre-Luc decided he would not be burdened by a down season.
"To some people, it can be heavy, to hear the negatives all the time," he said. "There are always complaints but not a lot of people know the full story, what really happened. So for me last year is kind of an easy bandwagon to get onto, that, 'He's not a good player,' or 'He's not having a good year,' or 'He's not worth it,' and blah, blah, blah. But 99 percent of people don't know the full story.
"No, what gets to me is my play. If I don't play well, I don't need people telling me from the stands or on Twitter telling me I'm not good. That doesn't motivate me more. Me not playing well motivates me more. It's my opinion of myself. I hold myself to a really high standard. I want to be helping my team win every game, offensively, defensively, physically, however I can. If I played a good game and I helped my team win, then I'm happy, regardless of the points or anything else. I'm good with that."
The native of Ste-Agathe-des-Monts, Quebec, put a strong focus on his offseason training, confident he would be more himself, be physical and be determined to the point of pushing his way around and often through opponents.
And from the start of the season, it's been a more assertive game with impact. Dubois (6-foot-2, 205 pounds) rarely gives an inch and attracts opponents' attention nearly every shift.
That aggressiveness has led to his increase in offensive production, and also an increase in penalties, from 15 in 46 games last season to 37 in 64 games this season. On the flip side, Dubois drew 13 penalties last season but has drawn 41 this season, second in the NHL behind Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers (43).
The Jets will need even more of that from Dubois as they continue their push to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. They trail the Dallas Stars by five points for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Western Conference.
However the season turns out for the Jets, the next step will working on keeping Dubois in Winnipeg. The two-year, $10 million contract he signed with Columbus on Dec. 31, 2020 expires after the season when Dubois can become a restricted free agent.
The Jets will likely want to explore a long-term contract but Dubois said that is business for another day.
"When the offseason starts, we'll move on to the contract talks but for now it's just concentrating on winning and making the playoffs," he said. "I haven't put that much thought into it. Everybody's different. My dream was to play in the NHL. It wasn't to make as much money as I could. It's about playing in the NHL. I'm here. I have a job to do. We have [18] games left. Every game is going to be so important so I can't even allow five percent of myself to think about something that could potentially happen four months from now."