Confirmed Trade: [WSH/LAK] Pierre-Luc Dubois for Darcy Kuemper (no salary retained)

[Habs Halifax]

Do you think that was because of Connor or Dubois? They played him on every line on the Kings.

No Kings fan thinks Kuemper is some kind of savior. But 3yrs/5mil is much better than 7yrs/8.5mil in this case. Kuemper has also played with the Kings before.

Because of both (Connor/Dubois). Talent needs to play with talent and it applies to Dubois more than most IMO. Not the type to lead a line by himself.

If he was such a problem, tell me why team Canada had him on the team? The Dubois at the WC's was pretty good. Jets really did want to keep him and tried hard to extend him. That does not indicate a problem child to me. In other cases (Trouba for example), he demanded a trade and ended up going to the team of his choice from the beginning. Now the Caps have traded for him. That tells me teams still think he is effective but fans are on his back for wanting out of two teams now and then the 3rd team is not a good fit. The 3rd team is more on the Kings than Dubois. They are the ones who dug deep to acquire and sign the big contract.

I remember hearing the Kings in on Dubois (pre trade). There was some talk among fans as why would the Kings do this? They have good center depth and should probably allocate that cap space for D. Then the other talk was what center gets moved to wing? Personally, I was thinking it was Dubois because I feel is more of a power forward winger than a true type center. Kings did try him in a few spots yes but it was a small sample. He played 3C most of the season. If your plan as a manager is to let the player self motivate, you don't have a good plan. Regardless of if you think they should be self motivated due to the money. It's a relative world.

In the first 13 games, Dubois had 8 pts with 4 goals (17 min/game). Went downhill from there. I know most of you don't agree, but blame goes to both Dubois and the Kings usage/management.

Dubois should have just waited for UFA and signed with the team of his choice. My hunch tells me that his agent found out what the Habs would offer for a contract and it was not close to what the Kings offered so he choose to sign.

 

[Warden of the North]

Yes.... but that boat anchor didn't just fall out of the damn sky.

Trading Dubois one year after trading for and signing him is just an admission you have no clue what you're doing. It's too big of a mistake, and he can't really deny it's a mistake after how it's played out.

Well, sure, but as long as he's not fired then he needs to do what's best for the team and move on from it.

It's a bigger mistake to hang on to it.

 

[beowulf]

Because of both (Connor/Dubois). Talent needs to play with talent and it applies to Dubois more than most IMO. Not the type to lead a line by himself.

If he was such a problem, tell me why team Canada had him on the team. The Dubois at the WC's was pretty good.

I remember hearing the Kings in on Dubois (pre trade). There was some talk among fans as why would the Kings do this? They have good center depth and should probably allocate that cap space for D. Then the other talk was what center gets moved to wing? Personally, I was thinking it was Dubois because I feel is more of a power forward winger than a true type center. Kings did try him in a few spots yes but it was a small sample. He played 3C most of the season.

In the first 13 games, Dubois had 8 pts with 4 goals (17 min/game). Went downhill from there. I know most of you don't agree, but blame goes to both Dubois and the Kings usage/management.

Jets really did want to keep him and tried hard to extend him. That does not indicate a problem child to me. In other cases (Trouba for example), he demanded a trade and ended up going to the team of his choice from the beginning.

Dubois should have just waited for UFA and signed with the team of his choice.

And I am glad he didnt so he is not in Montreal

 

[Habs Halifax]

And I am glad he didnt so he is not in Montreal

Call me crazy but the only thing I don't like about Dubois is that stupid 8x $8.5M bloated contract. If he was at $6.5 or $7M, it fits better. I bet you his agent found out what Gorton/Hughes would offer if he reaches UFA and that's why he agreed to the sign/trade with the Kings.

Dubois is a power forward winger who can play center if required. That's how I would have managed him on the Habs. However, he's going to the Caps and he will play center and probably 20 min's a game. Lets see what version of Dubois we see now. Most are thinking he will still suck but I'm not so sure about that. Too easy to jump on a player when they are down. It's cheap talk.

 

[eco's bones]

If he falls flat I think the Caps are going to have a very difficult time unloading him on another team. It's a very risky move they've made. I get that with Backstrom's decline and Kuznetsov no longer that the Caps need help offensively and I think they hope that Ovie can help turn this guy around but even then he's probably going to underperform the contract he's signed. The guy has proven to be a 60 point player at his best and I'm not sure they're going to squeeze much more out of him and his play away from the puck kind of sucks.

 

[TheFinalWord]

Because of both (Connor/Dubois). Talent needs to play with talent and it applies to Dubois more than most IMO. Not the type to lead a line by himself.

If he was such a problem, tell me why team Canada had him on the team? The Dubois at the WC's was pretty good. Jets really did want to keep him and tried hard to extend him. That does not indicate a problem child to me. In other cases (Trouba for example), he demanded a trade and ended up going to the team of his choice from the beginning. Now the Caps have traded for him. That tells me teams still think he is effective but fans are on his back for wanting out of two teams now and then the 3rd team is not a good fit. The 3rd team is more on the Kings than Dubois. They are the ones who dug deep to acquire and sign the big contract.

I remember hearing the Kings in on Dubois (pre trade). There was some talk among fans as why would the Kings do this? They have good center depth and should probably allocate that cap space for D. Then the other talk was what center gets moved to wing? Personally, I was thinking it was Dubois because I feel is more of a power forward winger than a true type center. Kings did try him in a few spots yes but it was a small sample. He played 3C most of the season. If your plan as a manager is to let the player self motivate, you don't have a good plan. Regardless of if you think they should be self motivated due to the money. It's a relative world.

In the first 13 games, Dubois had 8 pts with 4 goals (17 min/game). Went downhill from there. I know most of you don't agree, but blame goes to both Dubois and the Kings usage/management.

Dubois should have just waited for UFA and signed with the team of his choice. My hunch tells me that his agent found out what the Habs would offer for a contract and it was not close to what the Kings offered so he choose to sign.

You're making it sound like none of this is on Dubois. He lacks heat/effort at times and has shown it repeatedly. When he's dialed-in and motivated, he's a hell of a player. But when he's not, then he's garbage. He needs to figure it out for himself...it's not up to the teams to find his motivation. They should try to, because that helps the team, but at the end of the day, you can be a PLD apologist all you want, but the buck stops with him.

 

[Habs Halifax]

Yes.... but that boat anchor didn't just fall out of the damn sky.

Trading Dubois one year after trading for and signing him is just an admission you have no clue what you're doing. It's too big of a mistake, and he can't really deny it's a mistake after how it's played out.

If the Habs did this Kings aggressive move, our fan base would throw our management under the bus in a heartbeat. Kings fans are giving their management a break. Habs fans would have thrown both the management and player under the bus. That's the difference.

Good quote. That boat anchor contract just didn't fall out of the damn sky. Kings go lucky because it wasn't a good move and a good fit. Are some Kings fans going to pump up Blame now? Genius for being able to trade the contract. Yeah, they were a genius for having a situation where the Caps needed a center and didn't want to rebuild

You're making it sound like none of this is on Dubois. He lacks heat/effort at times and has shown it repeatedly. When he's dialed-in and motivated, he's a hell of a player. But when he's not, then he's garbage. He needs to figure it out for himself...it's not up to the teams to find his motivation. They should try to, because that helps the team, but at the end of the day, you can be a PLD apologist all you want, but the buck stops with him.

Nope. I've said many times. Blame goes to both the Kings managers and Dubois. This is a player performance (history) and a usage/management issue. Sorry but there is a lot of blame to go around and most are blaming Dubois only. I don't see it that way. You see me talking about the Kings management and think I'm giving him a complete break. Not really

 

[canuckslover10]

When PLD reaches his peak and becomes a PPG power forward number 1 centre, then everyone is gonna look dumb in this thread.

 

[Habs Halifax]

If he falls flat I think the Caps are going to have a very difficult time unloading him on another team. It's a very risky move they've made. I get that with Backstrom's decline and Kuznetsov no longer that the Caps need help offensively and I think they hope that Ovie can help turn this guy around but even then he's probably going to underperform the contract he's signed. The guy has proven to be a 60 point player at his best and I'm not sure they're going to squeeze much more out of him and his play away from the puck kind of sucks.

Caps do not want a rebuild. Jets didn't want to rebuild and wanted to extend Dubois badly. He's not a perfect center who shows up all the time but he's very good when he's on his game.

Caps have probably seen what I saw. Usage/management issue and he was a pt/game player with Connor. Caps needed a center and seen what Dubois did at the WC's. It all fits for them. Could back fire but I think he does better by playing 20 min's a game.

 

[BaileyFan]

This is the first move in 3 years that Blake has made where he gave any thought to how it would benefit the Kings more than 5 minutes into the future. PLD could score 50 next year and Kuemper could continue being terrible and it would still be the best trade of Blake’s masterclass tenure. Kings aren’t winning jack with either player but the road is now clear for a rebuild (a real one this time) they desperately need once Kopitar and Doughty are gone.

I’m going to enjoy this for now until he uses the savings to lock up Roy and Toffoli in a few weeks to put the team in a worse spot than they were before once again.

 

[Habs Halifax]

When PLD reaches his peak and becomes a PPG power forward number 1 centre, then everyone is gonna look dumb in this thread.

Agreed. This is a case of a popular hate bandwagon party where they are all having fun drinking the cool aid. Dubois is a bit of a sook yes but he's effective when he's motivated. I bet you the Caps play him 20 min's a game and the results are different. He was good with the Jets when playing with Connor and he was also good for team Canada at the WC's.

If he was the problem child most gullible fans think he is, why did the Jets want him to extend? They got a pretty good look at him with his time there right?

 

[Habs Halifax]

This is the first move in 3 years that Blake has made where he gave any thought to how it would benefit the Kings more than 5 minutes into the future. PLD could score 50 next year and Kuemper could continue being terrible and it would still be the best trade of Blake’s masterclass tenure. Kings aren’t winning jack with either player but the road is now clear for a rebuild (a real one this time) they desperately need once Kopitar and Doughty are gone.

I’m going to enjoy this for now until he uses the savings to lock up Roy and Toffoli in a few weeks to put the team in a worse spot than they were before once again.

Where is the talk about why the Kings made the move? Do you remember all the trade chatter pre trade? Many fans were talking about why are they going after a center when they have good center depth? Why are the Kings not using that cap space for a D?

Why has this narrative disappeared? Because many expert fans on these boards were talking about that questionable move by a fair amount. People forget very easily I guess.

 

[BaileyFan]

Where is the talk about why the Kings made the move? Do you remember all the trade chatter pre trade? Many fans were talking about why are they going after a center when they have good center depth? Why are the Kings not using that cap space for a D?

Why has this narrative disappeared? Because many expert fans on these boards were talking about that questionable move by a fair amount. People forget very easily I guess.

What are you talking about? Kings fans universally hated the idea of acquiring PLD before it happened, hated the official trade the minute it dropped, and the results ended up being far worse than even we could’ve imagined.

He's not a perfect center who shows up all the time but he's very good when he's on his game.

Why is this narrative still being talked about like it has any relevance? The player has been “on” twice in his career: a week when he beat the Leafs in the playoffs, and a half-season when he was a 1C for a Canadian team. That’s the extent of his whole mystique and Brisson managed to parlay it into $68 million. If PLD had beaten the Senators in the bubble or was a ppg player on the Coyotes for half a season for example then no one would ever be talking about him like this great talent that just needs to be unlocked by the right situation.

 

[Habs Halifax]

What are you talking about? Kings fans universally hated the idea of acquiring PLD before it happened, hated the official trade the minute it dropped, and the results ended up being far worse than even we could’ve imagined.

I have not seen much talk about that lately though. Is it happening on the Kings board?

 

[Northernhawk]

So let me get this straight? Capitals buy capfriendly.com and their first trade after they acquire a compulsive under achieving whiner at a cost of $8.5 million per fir the next SEVEN seasons…nice!

 

[McSuper]

I don't think LA answer their goalie issue but the did get rid of one of the wore contracts in the NHL. Hope the Oilers can did the same with Nurse. Hello Washington it Holland I have a deal for you. 1 Free Nurse and you get to see beautiful Sarah in attendance

 

[howkie]

I think PLD knows he cant stop showing up anymore. If he want to leave Capitals he needs to play good. If he sucks he will stay there or get bought out. All his leverage is gone now, he used it against Jackets, Jets and Kings. He was good in his last year with Jets because he was motivated and what I can tell, Jets players did not seem to have any personal problems with him.

 

[OtherThingsILike]

What do you think the issue actually is with this guy?

I'm wondering if PLD is an Alexandre Daigle-type and just doesn't enjoy playing hockey that much anymore.

 

[Hockeyholic]

McDavid has more points in 23 playoff games than PLD had in an entire regular season.

I can see PLD being out of the league in two years or so.

 

[CanMerc]

There is no way this isn’t a win for LA.
All they had to take back was 3 yrs of a backup goalie to get out of the contract for a proven lazy quitter, and… no retention, no added piece(s)…good on the Kings management for putting ego aside and doing what needed to be done.

Curious if there’d be a market for Kuemper at 50%…maybe LA could get a mid pick from someone in need of a backup

 

[banks]

I believed in PLD for longer than I should have. He proved me wrong by being dismal and blank with LA all year. I came to my senses.

But now I'm back on team PLD! This guy is going to get a jump in his step with Ovi, and he's going to be a unicorn power forward! 70 points or more incoming this season!

 

[TageGod]

Is it just me or is it very odd that so many trades are happening while the finals are also still happening?

Finals are LATE.

 

[marcel snapshot]

Kopitar and Doughty also vented to the press during a terrible streak that there are some players playing for themselves and stats. While Fiala was definitely a culprit, PLD was probably the next most likely.

The risk of keeping PLD was far worse than trading him in the event he turns things around. If he does it for Washington, good for him.

Interesting - sounds like team leadership really soured on the player.

 

[Bouboumaster]

Kuemper is so done but at least he ain't paid f***ing 8.5M$ for another 7 years, so they win this trade

 

[Curufinwe]

Hockey is so weird I won't be shocked if PLD is pretty good in Washington. They've done well with making Strome into a solid player.