The Washington Capitals made one of the biggest splashes of the 2024 NHL offseason when they completed a one-for-one trade with the Los Angeles Kings, dealing goaltender Darcy Kuemper for forward Pierre-Luc Dubois.
The 26-year-old center is coming off a disappointing 40-point performance with the Kings after the team inked him to an 8-year, $68 million contract in a sign-and-trade deal with the Winnipeg Jets almost exactly a year ago. Dubois has seven years and $59.5 million remaining on his deal, which the Capitals are now on the hook for.
The lack of production in LA furthered Dubois’s poor reputation across the league as a player who’s difficult to work with, especially with how his time with the Jets and Columbus Blue Jackets ended. But despite that history, Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery doesn’t see red flags. He sees Dubois as a unique opportunity to get a once-elite player back to his previous level.
“I love the challenge, and that’s my job,” Carbery said after Development Camp on Saturday. “When we acquire players that have been very, very productive and have a ton of potential and have shown that potential, that’s what coaching is. That’s what I love to do. Hopefully [he] comes here, the environment, the team, the coaching staff, it enables him to be very, very productive and reach that potential that everybody has seen.”
Carbery has already shown that he has what can help rejuvenate a challenging, underperforming player. Last season, Carbery helped Anthony Mantha have his most productive season with the Capitals. After floundering under Peter Laviolette, Mantha scored 20 goals under Carbery for the first time since the 2018-19 season with the Detroit Red Wings. Carbery’s trust and guidance for the big winger netted the Capitals a 2024 second-round pick and a 2026 fourth-round pick when the team dealt Mantha to the Vegas Golden Knights at the trade deadline.
“My initial conversations with [Dubois] have been great,” Carbery said. “And I won’t focus on the LA stuff, last year, this, that, you’re playing behind (Anze) Kopitar and (Phillip) Danault. To me, it’s him coming into a situation where we’ve got a ton of opportunity that he can take advantage of and grab onto. And we’re going to work with him every single day to try to get the best out of him.”
Those two, Selke Trophy caliber centermen played most of the top-six minutes for LA, leaving Dubois with less-quality wingers to line up with. Dubois, at times, also played wing.
Despite those circumstances, LA drove play with Dubois. In just over 1,061 five-on-five minutes with Dubois on the ice, the Kings saw 53.3 percent of the shot attempts, 54.5 percent of the expected goals, 54.2 percent of the scoring chances, and 51.9 percent of the high-danger chances.
With the Capitals, Dubois is likely already penciled in to center one of the team’s top lines. Given his affinity for playing with Russians and how the rest of the roster has now been slotted, he should get all the opportunity in the world to be Alex Ovechkin’s center next year.
Dubois is already pumped up about connecting with the NHL’s greatest goal scorer and Ovechkin directly approved of the deal once the team made the move in late June.
“Yeah, we’ll look at that,” Carbery said. “We’ll look. But I don’t think it’s fair to say Pierre-Luc coming in is going to now have the responsibility to set up [Ovechkin]. He’s a big body, can control the game, can skate, has shown through his career being able to be productive down the middle, from a point production, from starting in his defensive zone, moving the puck, and ending in the offensive zone. A lot of different things that you could say will set up O, but it’ll just help us play at a higher level, help us have the puck more.”
Dubois played high in Team Canada’s lineup at the recent 2024 World Championship in Czechia. In 10 games, Dubois recorded nine points (4g, 5a) and his production was spread evenly throughout those 10 games.
Additionally, over the past six seasons, no player has scored over 75 points for the defensive-minded Kings, and over the last 12 seasons, only Kopitar has scored over 75 points. He did it exactly once. For comparison’s sake, a Capitals player has scored over 75 points 11 times during that same timeframe. Washington may just present a better fit for a player like Dubois, especially considering the ice time available.
Dubois and Carbery will get the opportunity to meet for the first time in person once the Capitals get back together for Training Camp in September. Dubois has said previously that he hopes to get in the area well before that so he’s settled and ready for what could be the most important preseason of his career.
