Pierre-Luc Dubois missed two-thirds of the 2025-26 season, and that alone might have cost the Caps a playoff appearance.
By the Numbers
5
Goals
14
Assists
29
Games played
17
Minutes per game
On-ice percentages
47%
Shot attempts
50%
Expected goals
51%
Actual goals
Isolated Impact by HockeyViz
About this visualization: This image by Micah Blake McCurdy of hockeyviz.com shows how the player has impacted play when on the ice. At the top of the image is the team’s offense (even strength at left, power play at right) and at bottom is the team’s defense (with penalty kill at bottom right). In each case, red/orange blobs mean teams shoot for more from that location on the ice, and blue/purple means less. In general, a good player should have red/orange blobs near the opponent’s net at top, and blue/purple blobs near their own team’s net at bottom. The distributions in middle show how the player compares to league average at individual finishing, setting up teammates to score, and taking and drawing penalties. The number at center is Synthetic Goals: a catch-all number for the player’s impact.
Player Card by Evolving Hockey
About this player card: This card from Josh and Luke of Evolving Hockey compares the player to league averages based on their impact on on-ice statistics. GAR means “goals above replacement,” where “replacement” means an average player called up from the AHL. xGAR is the same figure but assuming league-average goaltending. The numbers at top are the player’s percentile ranks overall and then for offense and defense alone.
Player Overview by NHL Edge
About this visualization: The NHL’s advanced statistics program, Edge, tracks player and puck movement. The player’s shot speed, skating speed, and skating distance are at top along with percentile rank. At bottom left is a shot location map, and at bottom right is zone time per zone.
Gratuitous Generative Art by Peter
Using p5.js, the player’s name is a seed that randomizes a bunch of values in an animated canvas with glitchy effects that should be gradual enough not to mess with people with sensory issues. Not AI. Not all that different from Logo, which I learned in like 1992.
Peter’s Take
Ugh. PLD was Washington’s best player in 2024-25, straight-up. But the Caps lost him on October 12 in a game against the Rangers. Spencer Carbery said, “it’s not a long-term thing.” but it was in fact a long-term thing. He made a comeback but left the Islanders game on Halloween, again a lower-body thing. In November he got surgery on his abdominal and adductor muscles and didn’t play again until February.
In the meantime, the Caps didn’t even try to replace Dubois through a trade. This was an error.
Dubois scored in his first game back, but he didn’t play much like his pre-injury self. His shooting percentage and goal production were halved from the prior season, but the bigger loss was the benefit to his linemates. Aliaksei Protas’s scoring took a minor hit, but the entirety of Connor McMichael’s viability at the NHL level gets called into question when he plays without PLD for a long time. McMichael’s on-ice shot-attempt percentage dropped nine percentage points – from 54 to 45 – when he missed PLD at his side.
There are dozen reasons why the Caps missed the playoffs in 2025-26. The power play, bad luck in overtime, a freak year in standings points distribution – but in my mind losing PLD is the simplest. If he didn’t go down on Halloween, the Caps would have been in the dance. He’s that good.
PLD on RMNB
- Ryan Leonard was still living the Dubois in the fall, getting warnings for leaving dishes in the sink.
- But, with a baby on the way, Leonard got evicted. Dubois said two kids in the house was too many. Hold that thought because we’ll come back to it.
- Injury rundown:
- October 12: LBI
- October 15: Carbery says it’s not a long-term thing
- October 18: On injured reserve
- October 25: Reactivated
- October 31: LBI
- November 3: Will miss an ‘extended period of time’
- November 9: Carbery says the middle six “has been a challenge” without PLD
- November 11: Will miss 3 to 4 months after undergoing surgery on abdominal and adductor muscles
- January 11: Skates for first time
- February 5: Returns and scores immediately
- On his return: “There were a few times I thought I might throw up.”
- Remember when Leonard got evicted? Well, PLD invited Cole Hutson to live with him. Damning for Leonard.
- Dubois praised Hutson’s cooking skills. Also: “Leno didn’t do anything.”
- In March, Dubois got a match penalty for tackling Robert Thomas.
- In April, he suffered an upper-body injury. We later learned that was a broken hand.
Your Turn
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