Washington Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery revealed that the team would be without Pierre-Luc Dubois long-term after the team’s practice on Monday.
Carbery didn’t provide much else, other than saying the team didn’t know whether Dubois would need surgery to repair his lower-body ailment. The club’s bench boss was asked a follow-up question on Tuesday about whether the Capitals believed Dubois would not return for another game during the 2025-26 campaign.
“No, we do not think it’s going to be season-ending,” Carbery said. “Just an extended period of time at this point. No update on him.”
Dubois suffered his injury against the New York Islanders on Friday, where his knee appeared to buckle during a defensive-zone faceoff. He needed assistance to get off the ice and has not skated with his teammates since.
While he remains out of action, the 27-year-old center was still at MedStar Capitals Iceplex on Tuesday morning. Dressed in street clothes, Dubois stopped by to watch part of practice from behind the bench.
Dubois has played in just six of the Capitals’ 12 games this fall, recording zero points and averaging 15:32 of time on ice per game. He recorded a career high 66 points (20g, 46a) with the Caps last year, playing in all 82 games.
With Dubois off the ice, the Capitals practiced for a second straight day with Connor McMichael at second-line center. Dylan Strome, Hendrix Lapierre, and Nic Dowd manned the other three center positions.
