Pierre-Luc Dubois is with the Washington Capitals for his first Training Camp since being acquired by the team over the summer from the Los Angeles Kings.
Dubois’s first encounters with the DC media have involved similar themes, sharing his happiness that the Capitals took a chance on him and his excitement about playing on the same team as Alex Ovechkin. He further talked about Capitals captain in his first meeting with media at Training Camp, Thursday.
“It’s been a little weird in the sense that I remember a seven-year-old me watching [Ovi] play and going on NHL 2005 and playing with him,” Dubois said. “Now, you’re his teammate. It’s pretty crazy that, as a 26-year-old, now I get to call him a teammate. Playing against him was also something, but playing with him will be even more cool.”
Dubois arrived in the area well before Training Camp to get better acclimated to his new home and get a head start on forming relationships with his new teammates. One unprompted and unplanned interaction with the Capitals’ captain stood out to him the most.
“We were at a restaurant one day, and he came over to our table,” Dubois said. “I didn’t even know he was there, and he came over to our table. When a player like that is as welcoming as that, it means a lot. It goes a long way. I’m sure I’ll get to know him more and more as the season goes on.”
Interacting casually with a player he looked up to daily has Dubois reminiscing on his younger self and a young Ovechkin. When Ovechkin entered the league in 2005, he set new standards with his flashy style both on and off the ice and Dubois was a huge fan of it.
“It’s more of just a surreal moment,” Dubois said wearing a vintage 1996 Atlanta Olympics hat. “I went back to myself 20 years ago because it’s his 20th season, and I go back, and I think, ‘I was just a little kid,’ and we all wanted the skates that he had. We all wanted the tinted visor like he had. We all wanted the strong one-timer like he had. You’re pretending to be him when you’re at the outdoor rink and all that, and 20 years later, you’re playing with him.”
While the 2024-25 campaign will be Dubois’s first on the same side as Ovechkin, his admiration of the big Russian was still present even when he lined up opposite him on the Columbus Blue Jackets, Winnipeg Jets, and Los Angeles Kings. The talented playmaker was on the ice when Ovechkin scored career goal number 802 on an empty net against the Jets on December 23, 2022.
The goal saw Ovechkin move past Gordie Howe for the second-most goals in NHL history, leaving just Wayne Gretzky to topple. Dubois hopes to help him do just that.
“I was on the ice when he got second, and I was happy for him,” Dubois said. “You’re playing against him, but he scores and becomes second. But now, to be able to help him chase that record is something crazy. Any record is impressive, but the goal record, goals at the end of the day, is what makes you win. So, for him to chase that and be that close it is something that I’m sure for him is wild, but as a teammate, to be able to see that and see that hunt for the record is going to be pretty special.”
Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery has Dubois and Ovechkin separated to start the preseason but has talked about eventually trying the pair out together. Dylan Strome is currently centering Ovechkin on the team’s top line, while Dubois is between Connor McMichael and Tom Wilson on the second line.
Dubois has also been open about his preference for playing with Russian linemates due to their on-ice style, and no Russian is better in the game’s history than Ovechkin.
