Pierre-Luc Dubois wanted an opportunity to rediscover his game. What he got was that and a front seat to hockey history as a member of the Washington Capitals during the 2024-25 campaign.
“I could probably write a book about last year’s season,” he told TSN Radio 690 Montreal on August 21. “I could probably write a book about just [Alex Ovechkin] last year, and then I could write a second book about the season, about everything.”
Dubois landed in Washington, DC via trade last summer and logged a career-high 66 points (20g, 46a). Three of those points were assists on Ovechkin goals as the legendary Russian became the NHL’s greatest goal scorer. Dubois got apples on Ovechkin’s 869th and 887th career goals. He also assisted on Ovechkin’s 44th and final tally of the campaign, putting him at 897 career goals.
The 27-year-old centerman credits his resurgence to the team’s willingness to simply let him play his own style.
“The first phone calls I had, [they] really treated [me] like they really wanted me to succeed, were going to give me a chance to succeed,” Dubois said. “And then after that, just coming here, they just said, ‘Just be yourself, you don’t need to do more. You don’t need to do less. Be yourself. We’ll give you a chance.'”
That chance paid off for both Dubois and Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery. The Jack Adams Award-winner had nothing but praise for the way the Quebec native found quick success in the club’s lineup.
“I was confident that he was going to be a good player for us, but you never know,” Carbery said in May. “The level that he played at consistently night to night was tremendous. Coming in and being able to play the center ice position and really stabilizing a matchup and all the different things that he provided our lineup up front was significant.”
“You can’t say enough good things about that guy,” Charlie Lindgren added.
Dubois was branded a malcontent at previous stops in his career, playing for four different teams during a five-year span. Before being traded to the Capitals, Dubois had a not-so-pleasant stint with the Los Angeles Kings.
The Kings acquired Dubois in a blockbuster sign-and-trade deal with the Winnipeg Jets that saw Dubois earn an 8-year, $68 million ($8.5 million AAV) contract. LA’s front office chose to make the move despite already having significant depth down the middle in the form of Anze Kopitar, Phillip Danault, and the emerging Quinton Byfield.
The crowded center position forced Dubois into an unfamiliar bottom-six center role or even out wide onto the wing. Dubois averaged 15:42 of ice time per game with the Kings, the lowest mark of his career outside of the 2020-21 campaign, where he was dealt midseason from Columbus to Winnipeg.
“Sometimes it’s complicated,” Dubois said. “It’s stuff that you can’t control, and it’s stuff that’s frustrating. But it’s a team sport, and you have to do your best for the team, and even if that means being in a chair that you’re not necessarily comfortable or you’ve never really been in. And that’s kind of what I felt like happened in LA.”
As the highest-paid forward on the Kings, Dubois recorded just 40 points (16g, 24a) in 82 games. He finished eighth on the team in scoring, just one spot ahead of defenseman Matt Roy.
“Everything happens for a reason,” Dubois said. “I learned a lot. I met some great people, and now that I’m here in DC, I think that year helped me a lot.”
When the Capitals acquired Dubois from the Kings for goaltender Darcy Kuemper, they took on the last seven years of the big forward’s big contract. The deal keeps him under Capitals control through the 2030-31 season, joining Tom Wilson, Jakob Chychrun, Martin Fehervary, and Logan Thompson as roster members signed for that long.
