Two Pierre-Luc Dubois trades fell through before move to Washington

Last week, the Los Angeles Kings surprisingly managed to trade forward Pierre-Luc Dubois in a one-for-one transaction, shipping him to the Washington Capitals in return fo goalie Darcy Kuemper, with no salary retention.

Rumours had been buzzing around Dubois for weeks, especially following a disastrous season in LA in which he played all 82 games, but collected just 16 goals and 24 assists, and his average ice time of 15:42 was nearly two minutes below his previous career average of 17:37, the road is over for him with the Kings. When he first came to California from the Winnipeg Jets in exchange for fellow forwards Gabriel Vilardi, Alex Iafallo, and Rasmus Kupari, as well as a second-round pick in this year’s draft, everyone had high expectations for Dubois. He was signed to an eight-year, $68-million contract shortly before he was sent to the Kings as part of a sign-and-trade.

Now his contract lands in DC. However, insider Elliotte Friedman recently reported how two other teams from the Eastern conference inquired about Dubois and looked into the possibility of pulling the trigger on the forward. Friedman was “told from a reliable source” that there was legitimate interest from other teams in Dubois before the move to the Capitals, and he strongly believes that the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens were the other teams with serious interest.

When the trigger was finally pulled on Washington, Dubois was not able to use his full no-move, which was kicking in July 1. I’m wondering if, being from Montreal, he would have appreciated the amount of pressure on his shoulders, playing for his childhood team… He wouldn’t have been able to reject the trade though.

It might have come close for Dubois to become a Hab or even a Bruin, however, he will now have to prove his worth next to Alex Ovechkin and the Caps, who take on the remainder of his full deal.