The Washington Capitals are one of the top teams in the NHL this season after barely qualifying for the playoffs in 2023-24.
The team’s renaissance comes after Brian MacLellan and Chris Patrick significantly overhauled the roster over the summer, adding seven new faces to the lineup. The most notable move was acquiring Pierre-Luc Dubois from the Los Angeles Kings, dealing struggling goaltender Darcy Kuemper back in exchange.
While Dubois struggled to fit in and earned the reputation of being a malcontent during previous stops with the Columbus Blue Jackets, Winnipeg Jets, and Kings, he’s assimilated well in Washington almost immediately. So what gives?
Capitals owner Ted Leonsis believes he knows why. When Leonsis privately asked Dubois to give his first impression of the Capitals, the French-Canadian forward immediately referred to the moment the trade happened and his positive interactions with the team’s veteran leadership group.
“Dubois is a good example,” Leonsis told NHL.com’s Dan Rosen from the NHL Board of Governor’s meetings in Florida. “He bounced around a bit, he’s having a great season, and I said to him, ‘What do you like so far?’ He said, ‘Well, two minutes after we announced the trade, Alex Ovechkin called me and said, welcome to the team, you’re going to love it here, you’re going to love Washington D.C.’
“He said, ‘Tom Wilson then called me and said we’re probably going to play together, so I’ll come pick you up at the airport, and my wife will talk to your girlfriend, and we’ll talk about the community.’ He said John Carlson called him, and he said, ‘When your bedrock guys on the team make you feel immediately a part of something, that’s how you can identify culture.’ The guys really like each other, and we have a great, great room.”
Washington’s leadership group has remained relatively intact for the last decade. Outside of Nicklas Backstrom and TJ Oshie, who were recently forced out of the lineup due to long-term injuries, the Capitals have had Alex Ovechkin as their captain since the 2009-10 campaign, John Carlson as an alternate captain since the 2019-20 season, and Tom Wilson serving off and on as an alternate captain since the 2021-22 season.
Wilson wasn’t handed the full-time reins as an alternate captain until this season, but he has been widely known as an unofficial one in the locker room for many years. He has also been considered the captain-in-waiting for when Ovechkin retires and plays an active role in helping the club’s younger players and prospects feel comfortable in a new environment.
Dubois’s immediate chemistry with the team has been integral to the Capitals’ early-season success. He has posted 19 points (4g, 15 a) in 27 games. Head coach Spencer Carbery has also turned to him as the primary center for matchup assignments against the opposition’s top lines.
Washington has not only come out positive during Dubois’s five-on-five minutes, but they’ve been dominant, seeing 51.9 percent of the shot attempts, 58.1 percent of the expected goals, 56.1 percent of the scoring chances, and 60.2 percent of the high-danger chances. With Dubois on the ice, Washington has also outscored their opponents 25-16 at five-on-five (61.0 GF%).
As Leonsis noted, Dubois’s previous three stints with teams in the NHL have all ended unceremoniously. He requested a trade from the Columbus Blue Jackets and Winnipeg Jets and then was dealt to DC by the Los Angeles Kings just one year into an eight-year, $68 million contract.
Unlike in years past, when Dubois had to try and live up to unrealistic expectations or constantly answer questions about how he fits in with teams, PLD has been showered with praise by his coaches and peers in Washington, and that appears to have him playing his heart out. A prime example came in the team’s 6-5 win over the New Jersey Devils at the end of November, when Dubois raced to negate a potential icing call with just 12.8 seconds in regulation.
“You can’t say enough good things about that guy,” Charlie Lindgren said. “He came in and he’s played some really good hockey for us. He’s matched up against usually the best lines and I just love his game. I love his grit.”
While Dubois has been snakebit scoring goals early in the season, he has his most common linemates, Connor McMichael and Wilson, trending toward career years. McMichael is tied with Ovechkin for the team lead in goals (15), while Wilson is third with 11.
“So [Dubois’s] expected goal rate and all that stuff, everybody knows it,” Carbery said. “They’re like, ‘Damn, this guy is controlling play, he’s playing against the best competition every night, he’s doing this, this and this.’ So I think that gives players a little bit more, it used to be you used to open the newspaper and you’d go like every team stat lines were in there and you’d go ‘this guy’s good, this guy’s not doing well, this guy’s,…’ It goes so much deeper than that. So I think it gives him a little bit of confidence and put his mind at ease. He’s had a phenomenal start to the year and he should be really proud of the way that he’s playing, regardless of whether pucks are going in the net for him.”
