Confirmed with Link: Trade: Pierre-Luc Dubois to Washington for Darcy Kuemper… the trade is one for one

[Ridley Simon]

There isn’t a positive side to this trade whatsoever. You’re paying 8.5 million dollars to a 40pt 3C who is on team number 4 in seven years. Wasn’t motivated at 3 previous places but now he’s magically going to be for a non playoff team (we didn’t belong there). Good luck with that. You want to spin everything GMBM does into roses. Be my guest. I wish I could be that naive.

Oh come on, man. Don’t be such a Todd.

Just one year ago, this player was “SO valuable!!” That GM’s were standing in line to try and acquire him.

Fast forward just 11.5mo (not even a year!!) and he’s some dogshit 40pt player, on the downswing of his career?

LOL. HOLY Hyperbole!!

He is who he’s been. A 50-60pt player on a contract that is too high. It should be 1.5-2m cheaper. But it isn’t.

IF he is the same 60pt player that he has been, are YOU *still* bitching like an old dog? Or?

I have to assume that there is NO performance from this player that will satisfy your hate. And that’s what it is. Hate.

 

[Todd Lazarchick]

You've been bitching for months about how non-committal MacLellan is, and now he pushes all his chips to the middle of the table with this move and unsurprisingly you're still bitching because of all the hypothetical other moves for players you'll never name that you think were out there. Shocking.

I dunno how you can say there's no direction after a move like this, because it's blatantly a move to try to contend while Ovie's still here. There was never a path to that that wouldn't require the Caps catching lightning in a bottle, because they simply do not have the assets in terms of current players, prospects, and picks to acquire a bunch of players who're already elite and have no obvious warts. The only way they could possibly get back to contending is by gambling on buy-lows, and MacLellan managed to find one that only adds 3.3M in the Ovie years and costs significant cap room after that when the team will probably be rebuilding and the cap won't matter. They still have plenty of cap room right now and all their assets to make more additions, which are obviously coming.

For however this turns out, MacLellan is staking his legacy to this move. If it fails, it almost certainly costs him his job. If it succeeds, he'll have rebuilt the Caps' top 6 centers in the span of two years for literally less than nothing and the Caps might actually get back to contender status for Ovie's last few kicks at the can. I would say it's a win-win for you, but I'm honestly not sure you'd enjoy the latter.

The only thing BM has committed to is saddling this team with another albatross of a contract. If you actually followed along I’ve never clamored for him to do something stupid. I’ve asked for a legitimately talented player. Not a reclamation project. Especially not one who was run off of 4 teams in 7 years with a notorious contract.

 

[Ridley Simon]

Ok. The top 3 are?


Lost in all this, is he played well In Winnipeg. He didn’t want to play there any longer.

Gretzky
Lemieux
McDavid

 

[Todd Lazarchick]

@Todd Lazarchick youre really going to argue this contract and move is so horrible but are willing to give 10+mil x 7 to Reinhart after a career year on a stacked FLA team?

So you’re REALLY going to argue that a 54G/97PT player is more risky than a 16G/40PT? Yeah I’ll put my chips on a player who has actually accomplished that maintaining a high level of play vs hoping someone finally reaches their potential in year 8 after never showing they can do so lol.

 

[Misery74]

The only thing BM has committed to is saddling this team with another albatross of a contract. If you actually followed along I’ve never clamored for him to do something stupid. I’ve asked for a legitimately talented player. Not a reclamation project. Especially not one who was run off of 4 teams in 7 years with a notorious contract.

You are making this up entirely.

He asked out of Columbus. That seems like a yearly occurrence.

Didn’t want to resign In Winnipeg, see above.

LA coveted him. Paid a ransom for him, and yes, ran him off. And yes, there are reasons.

But for the next three years at least, solves way more problems than he causes. Kuemper was unplayable at $5.25m. You want to be mad at BMac, that seems like a better reason.

This is a good trade for the Caps.

 

[Hivemind]

UFAs: Lindholm probably gets more than 8.5M this summer cause you know there's gonna be a bidding war for him. Slim chance for Duchene and Stamkos too, though they're not necessarily centers at this stage. In 2025 Crosby definitely would still get over 8.5M on the open market but who knows if he takes a discount, and Nelson and Tavares both could if they have strong seasons and the cap goes up as expected. Maybe even Bennett. In 2026, I could see Malkin or Kopitar getting 8.5M if they decide to stop taking hometown discounts. In 2027 you'll have Hischier for sure, and I think O'Reilly, McCann, Karlsson, Zacha, and Danault all have the potential to get an 8.5M contract. If the cap keeps going up by about 4M per year, which is what's projected from what I've read, the cap is going to be 100M by this point, so an 8.5M contract that offseason will be the equivalent to 7.1M this past season.

RFAs: This is a lot harder to project because it all depends on who takes short term bridge deals, who takes mid-term bridge deals that carry them straight to UFA, and who commits to long term deals. For this year, I think Byfield, Mittlestadt, Perfetti, Beniers, Lundell, Sillinger, Mercer, and Pinto could all be at 8.5 within 3-4 years if they go for short term bridge deals this offseason, play well the next two years, then cash in afterwards. Some of those are more likely than others, but they all have the capacity to have breakout years if they haven't had them already. Necas could get it if a team acquires him to play center, gives him a short term deal, and he does well there. Jarvis could get it if a team offer sheets him and decides to move him back to his natural position. Next summer Wyatt Johnson seems like a shoe-in if he doesn't get a short bridge deal, and Kurashev, McTavish, and Rossi are possibilities for that year with a breakout or two years later if they take short bridges that year. In 2026 Bedard and Zegras should get massive raises, and Cooley, Carlsson, and Fantilli are possibilities. In 2027 we're going totally off projection, but maybe Shane Wright's broken out by then, and if Celebrini lives up to the hype he could be in for a big contract.

If I counted correctly that's 31 names that have at least a chance of getting 8.5M in the next 4 years. There's probably a few guys who'll come out of nowhere to break out or move to center over the next couple years too. It's impossible to say exactly how likely it is that PLD's outside the top 30 in four years, but it doesn't seem farfetched to me.

Thanks for taking a genuine and good faith approach to answering the question.

I think we could see $8.5M as the 30th paid center in say 5-7 years as we approach the end of his contract, but not in the next 3-4 years. A lot of the names on your list simply aren't going to command that. For example, Phillip Danault will be 34 years old in 2027 and peaked out as a 50ish point player (albeit with good defense). I don't see someone giving him a $3M raise for his twilight seasons, even if the cap goes up. Ryan OReilly had a higher peak than Danault, for sure, but will be 36 (and thus on a 35+ contract) when he's up for his next deal in 2027. Similar stories for Karlsson and McCann. Guys like Crosby, Malkin, and Kopitar are presumably going to retire before the next 4 years are up.

The RFAs are the more compelling set of names, but you've already identified the issue. Some of them will sign long-term deals before they've established huge value and some of them could sign a bridge deal and then regress/bust during that bridge deal. No point in speculating as to which will fall in each category, but if we settle for 50% of them making it to a >$8.5M contract, then we're at roughly 10 guys from that group. A decent number, indeed, but not enough to push PLD all the way down to being the 30th highest paid center in the next few years.

 

[Todd Lazarchick]

And a UFA still gets to choose their teams. I bet PLD had slim pickings and took the team with a vacant 1C slot (yay).

It seems like BMGM is deciding to address the lack of top 6 forwards without actually spending futures. I don’t hate the not spending futures part.

I hate being mediocre. Get better or tank. Pick one. Stop being ok with just ok.

 

[Misery74]

So you’re REALLY going to argue that a 54G/97PT player is more risky than a 16G/40PT? Yeah I’ll put my chips on a player who has actually accomplished that maintaining a high level of play vs hoping someone finally reaches their potential in year 8 after never showing they can do so lol.

Who is the 97 point player?

 

[Hivemind]

I guess there's no way to restructure his contract in a couple years when his actual salary will be below his cap hit?

Seems weird that Winnipeg signed him long term and then traded him the same day. I'm guessing it was the contract that LA wanted. But since it was an $8m signing bonus and a $1m salary in the first year, maybe it was a way for Winnipeg to basically give LA $8m as part of the deal?

Maybe I'm reading too much into it all, but I can't shake off this feeling that we got stuck with the hot potato here.

NHL contracts are guaranteed, they can't be restructured once they're signed.

You're correct on the second part, it was a sign-and-trade deal to Los Angeles with Blake/LA doing the contract negotiations. In order to get the 8th year on a contract, it has to be re-signing a player who played for the team the year before, otherwise the maximum length is 7 years. So PLD technically signed the 8 year deal with Winnipeg to make it legal for that 8th year to be on the deal, but in practice he was signing an 8 year deal with Los Angeles. The contract was part of the trade.

 

[Ovechkins Wodka]

I hate being mediocre. Get better or tank. Pick one. Stop being ok with just ok.

Ted makes that call. Im on record being team tank but im not going to sit here and rip GMBM when hes doing his bosses orders.

NHL contracts are guaranteed, they can't be restructured once they're signed.

You're correct on the second part, it was a sign-and-trade deal to Los Angeles with Blake/LA doing the contract negotiations. In order to get the 8th year on a contract, it has to be re-signing a player who played for the team the year before, otherwise the maximum length is 7 years. So PLD technically signed the 8 year deal with Winnipeg to make it legal for that 8th year to be on the deal, but in practice he was signing an 8 year deal with Los Angeles. The contract was part of the trade.

Cant be mad at PLD for taking that contract. Rob Blake gave him a blank check and PLD did what any hockey player should do.

 

[Langway]

Good window into at least how PLD assessed this past season. Beyond Carbery you'd have to think Muller is the guy that needs to take an active mentorship role.

 

[Random schmoe]

One thing is for sure.
He'll either improve or he won't.

 

[SherVaughn30]

Since I have the Kings as my 2ndary fav team, I have seen PLD up close. The Kings badly misused his offensive talent. They did not use him well on the PP and neither on their top 2 forward lines. I saw multiple instances where PLD did right attacking the net, had no option to shoot and put good passes to his teammates score goals, but the puck would shank off the teammates stick or they would miss the net. They then demoted him all the way down to the 4th line. Kings have a more recent history of their centers always being 2-ways(Kopitar in his prime could have been a regular 100 pt player, but was more consistently a 70 - 80 pt player for how he was deployed). I also point out their head coaches(TMac/Hiller) were no nonsense type coaches that aren't personable with their players. You play my system and deal with it so to speak! There are always going to be certain types of NHL players that coaching philosophy won't work. I think in PLD case, he needs a players coach, and that is exactly what Carbery can possibly do with PLD. Carbery will talk with his players on a individual bases. Carbery has a system, but he seems to be a bit flexible in making his roster work within the system. I'm gonna go with the mindset that PLD is innocent until he proves to be guilty again(in regard to him continuing his career with the Caps).

 

[Marshall]

Given it time to settle. Still do not love it.

PLD clashed with Tortz in CLB.
He told WPG he wasn't going to sign there long-term. Coach was Bowness.
Traded to LA, he didn't fit with Todd MacClellan. (I think all that's correct, fact-checks welcome.)

Those are three hard-nose coaches. Maybe things will be different with Carbs Magic.

Speaking of Carbs, this trade couldn't be a bigger vote of confidence for him - "Carbs, you're pretty good with the actual/perceived misfit toys-type. Here's a huge risk with a no-trade. You got this!"

PLD usually pots 20, so that isn't teh suck.

 

[SherVaughn30]

Love it or hate it, you're not getting talent potential of PLD for DK normally. In three years most of us won't care when he's over 30. I give GMBM credit for not sitting on the pot and doing something even with the SCF still active. As another poster stated, I want to see what Coach SC does with PLD. Milano and Strome worked out great. The deed is done. Hope for the best!

Milano and PLD were teammates with CBJ's and Caps skills coach was a coach for CBJ's during a part the PLD's time there. When PLD was traded to the Kings, I think the Kings were completely blind in that regard.

 

[Hivemind]

You are making this up entirely.

He asked out of Columbus. That seems like a yearly occurrence.

Didn’t want to resign In Winnipeg, see above.

LA coveted him. Paid a ransom for him, and yes, ran him off. And yes, there are reasons.

But for the next three years at least, solves way more problems than he causes. Kuemper was unplayable at $5.25m. You want to be mad at BMac, that seems like a better reason.

This is a good trade for the Caps.

Todd's reaction has been over-the-top in many cases, but he's not making up PLD's rocky history with coaches and teammates leading to his frequent team swaps.

PLD's relationship with Tortorella in Columbus was very publicly sour, with televised shouting matches and then PLD being benched in 2 of the 4 games before he was finally traded to Winnipeg. PLD did the typical lip service to a former coach in interviews, but we all watched what happened in real time in that situation. He's far from the only player to have issues with Torts, so it was relatively easy to write that one off at the time, but the behavior has repeated itself in future destinations.

After just one year in Winnipeg, PLD kicked up another storm by stating his desire to be traded to Montreal. Winnipeg had plenty of their own locker room issues already (which eventually led to Paul Maurice's resignation), but PLD definitely made things worse there. This is self-evident when you consider that Bowness publicly stated that PLD being traded to Los Angeles was a big factor in convincing Hellebuyck to re-sign with the Jets.

Even in Los Angeles, Doughty made a post-game comment about "guys in this locker room that are too worried about themselves, worried about their points" - which a number of reporters immediately linked to PLD (including Sammi Silber yesterday). Kopitar agreed with Doughty, stating some players "worry about scoring goals too much and not buying into the stuff that made us successful." When McLellan was fired in February, the LA Times went out of their way to state:
"The indifferent play of Dubois, the big-ticket acquisition whose eight-year, $68-million contract put them up against the salary-cap limit, remains a significant concern. Blake saw only Dubois’ size when he traded for the 6-foot-4, 225-pound center. Blake should have looked more deeply into Dubois’ character. Dubois asked out of Columbus, which drafted him third overall in 2016; and being obliged and landing in Winnipeg, he told the Jets he didn’t want to stay there, either. If he’s not willing to be part of a solution, he’s a problem."

Given it time to settle. Still do not love it.

PLD clashed with Tortz in CLB.
He told WPG he wasn't going to sign there long-term. Coach was Bowness.
Traded to LA, he didn't fit with Todd MacClellan. (I think all that's correct, fact-checks welcome.)

Those are three hard-nose coaches. Maybe things will be different with Carbs Magic.

Speaking of Carbs, this trade couldn't be a bigger vote of confidence for him - "Carbs, you're pretty good with the actual/perceived misfit toys-type. Here's a huge risk with a no-trade. You got this!"

PLD usually pots 20, so that isn't teh suck.

He also played for Paul Maurice in Winnipeg and Jim Hiller in Los Angeles.

 

[HTFN]

I can’t pretend I don’t have posts on this website calling Dubois a whiny baby who threw fit after fit and still got so much handed to him.

I don’t like the player, the move in a vacuum is fine because it punted Kuemper (which eases some of those contract years).

Only real hope is that being traded before his NTC actually wakes him up but I doubt it, I think he sulks a while

 

[Ovechkins Wodka]

Good window into at least how PLD assessed this past season. Beyond Carbery you'd have to think Muller is the guy that needs to take an active mentorship role.

Big take away from the interview is he doesnt want to play wing.

 

[SherVaughn30]

Given it time to settle. Still do not love it.

PLD clashed with Tortz in CLB.
He told WPG he wasn't going to sign there long-term. Coach was Bowness.
Traded to LA, he didn't fit with Todd MacClellan. (I think all that's correct, fact-checks welcome.)

Those are three hard-nose coaches. Maybe things will be different with Carbs Magic.

Speaking of Carbs, this trade couldn't be a bigger vote of confidence for him - "Carbs, you're pretty good with the actual/perceived misfit toys-type. Here's a huge risk with a no-trade. You got this!"

PLD usually pots 20, so that isn't teh suck.

A lot of players have clashed with Tortz, as he's tough on his players because he expects a lot. Some players can deal with that and others can't. In Winnipeg, I got the sense there was a locker room problem with multiple players. PLD could have been part of it, or he wanted out. With the Kings, it was not a fit from the beginning. Partial on PLD, but the Kings didn't really do their homework of how they were going to fit PLD in their system.

 

[NoVaCapsFan]

I hate being mediocre. Get better or tank. Pick one. Stop being ok with just ok.

I hate being mediocre. Get better or tank. Pick one. Stop being ok with just ok.

Seems to me we are doing one or the other now. If PLD plays up to his potential, we just got a lot better. If he sucks big time, we got a lot worse (and GMBM is busted flat and out of a job). Either way I will take it. And speaking as a season ticket holder, I would rather see bold moves than treading water.

 

[um]

I hate being mediocre. Get better or tank. Pick one. Stop being ok with just ok.

Mediocre is on the way to good.

Being mediocre because of old guys leading the way is concerning. Being mediocre because of young players improving and leading the way is great.

 

[um]

Given it time to settle. Still do not love it.

PLD clashed with Tortz in CLB.
He told WPG he wasn't going to sign there long-term. Coach was Bowness.
Traded to LA, he didn't fit with Todd MacClellan. (I think all that's correct, fact-checks welcome.)

Those are three hard-nose coaches. Maybe things will be different with Carbs Magic.

Speaking of Carbs, this trade couldn't be a bigger vote of confidence for him - "Carbs, you're pretty good with the actual/perceived misfit toys-type. Here's a huge risk with a no-trade. You got this!"

PLD usually pots 20, so that isn't teh suck.

I think there are other reasons to want out of Winnipeg.

 

[TheSmokingMan]

Good window into at least how PLD assessed this past season. Beyond Carbery you'd have to think Muller is the guy that needs to take an active mentorship role.

If you read between the lines, I think this interview is pretty telling of why LAK moved on from him. He clearly was not meshing with the coaches and systems. It may be that the strengths of his game just aren't suited for the way the Kings wanted to play. It was a bad fit and he either wasn't able to adjust his play or didn't want to, which would explain why he kept getting moved around and demoted in the lineup. The Kings probably decided that the marriage wasn't ever likely going to work and he had to be moved now before the NTC kicked in.

I just don't get a locker room cancer vibe from him at all. He seems more like a young guy who has bounced around a lot and is in an uncomfortable situation that he hasn't been able to figure out. Those were some pretty pointed questions he was getting, and I guess that's to be expected with the size of his contract. He did a good job staying humble, but it was clear that he had no idea how to fix his game to fit in better with the team.

We've been shown some videos of him looking listless on a shift, that are often cited as evidence of laziness or apathy, I actually saw a player who was being cautious and hesitant because he was having to think too much about how to play in the system. Maybe Kings fans are right, and it was an effort problem, but it could just as easily be that he was struggling to find a comfort area where he could contribute. This has some similarities to the Jagr situation when he came to DC.

I think the question needs to be asked, how much of the blame goes to the organization and how much goes to the player? Did the LAK just grossly miscalculate how he would fit or is he just being stubborn and lazy? Will he have success in DC with our coaching staff, players, and the system they play? It's no secret that we have a good culture in the locker room and Carbery is a real player's coach, the polar opposite of Tortorella. Our style of play still leans more towards defense first, but It's not as defensively demanding on the centers as the Kings. From seeing this interview, he is almost begging someone to take him under the wing and provide leadership and direction so he can have success. Can the Caps do that and turn around another reclaimation project or is this just fools gold?

I'm not going to predict the future, but there are enough hopeful signs here that maybe this won't turn out as badly as a lot of people have speculated. It's still a big gamble, but maybe the odds of success aren't quite as bad as we thought.

 

[Random schmoe]

A lot of words were written suggesting that Wheeler and Scheifele were the primary source of 'locker room problems' in Winnipeg. Those two, Wheeler in particular, are attributed with causing numerous other players to want out.

 

[The Butcher]

Make no mistake folks, both the Kings and Caps are eating a shit sandwich here.

I've always had a soft spot for Ovi and the Caps and I'm sad you have to be the next group of people to discover what a colossal disaster PLD is.

I really hope the trade gets both teams in the right direction but I don't think either of our front offices deserve to have jobs.