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Get to Know a Blue Jacket: Pierre-Luc Dubois

Pierre-Luc Dubois

#18 / Center

Height: 6’3” | Weight: 207 | Born: June 24, 1998

Birthplace: Ste-Agathe-Des-Monts, QC | Acquired: Drafted 3rd, 2016 (Columbus)

Assets: Has outstanding size and great offensive instincts. Can play both wing or center and owns excellent strength. Can score goals around the net or set up linemates with aplomb. Also has some physicality and energy to his game.

Flaws: Must continue to work on his play without the puck in order to maximize output at the highest level. Also needs to avoid taking bad penalties that can hurt his team. At his size, he may need a little extra time to fully develop.

Career Potential: Big, versatile scoring forward with upside.

(Via The Hockey News)

Why You Should Know Who He Is: A big, skilled center who has drawn comparisons to Jamie Benn and Anze Kopitar (among others), Dubois is the guy who was drafted immediately after Auston Matthews and Patrick Laine in 2016 and put together a heck of a rookie campaign for the Blue Jackets in 2017. Dubois really caught fire once he was united with Artemi Panarin (as one does), potting 17 goals and adding 26 assists over his last 59 games, and posting a 56.8 Corsi-For percentage (and 60.1 Goal-For percentage) alongside “The Bread Man” at five-on-five, per Natural Stat Trick. When Panarin and Dubois are on the ice, the Caps’ margin for error will by very small.

How the Caps Can Stop Him: Well, for one thing, don’t let this happen:

Otherwise, the Caps will match Dubois’ physicality and try to goad him into taking some penalties (paging Tom Wilson) and hope that the 19-year-old finds himself a bit overwhelmed in his first NHL playoffs. It will be important for Washington to make Dubois play in his own end as well – the youngster isn’t (yet?) a dominant defender and is used to getting some of the most favorable zone starts in the League. He also hasn’t shown to be particularly good in the face-off circle (43.8% successful), so the Caps should have a small edge there as well, depending on who they have in the dot against him (the Caps won 38 of 63 draws against Dubois this season).

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