Pierre-Luc Dubois Traded To Los Angeles
Pierre-Luc Dubois will have his wish fulfilled. After requesting a trade out of Winnipeg earlier this month, the Los Angeles Kings are looking to acquire him. LA is also giving him a handsome eight-year extension, per Chris Johnston:
Hearing the eight-year extension for Pierre-Luc Dubois will carry an $8.5M AAV in the sign-and-trade with Los Angeles. @NorthStarBet @TSN_Sports
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) June 27, 2023
It’s a pretty big splash for a Kings team that has had a very busy offseason before even hitting the draft. Many assumed LA would target a Top-Six forward after sending Sean Durzi to Arizona. All we need is the official return to be announced. The Kings would sacrifice some depth here, but it’s for one of the better centers in the league entering his prime. Him combined with Lady Byng winner Anze Kopitar down the middle make the Kings quite strong in terms of centers. Here’s what JFresh had for the former Blue Jackets lottery pick:
Pierre-Luc Dubois, acquired and signed 8x$8.5M by LA, is a top-six centre. He's a very strong offence driver at even strength and on the powerplay but not a great finisher and iffy defensively. #GoKingsGo pic.twitter.com/qFCWAdzBSV
— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) June 27, 2023
He’s not perfect, but does some stuff really well. One of which will be the Kings powerplay. Him alongside Doughty, Arvidsson and Fiala could be dynamite. He will also have a couple of great two-way centers to learn from in Kopitar and Phillip Danault.
What’s Next?
For starters, we need to see what the Kings are giving up here. Many are speculating that Alex Iafallo, Gabe Vilardi, and more are the framework of the package. If that’s the case the Kings will need to find ways to add depth. However, even more concerning is how things look on the back end. Along with Durzi, they also moved on from Sean Walker in the three-way deal for Ivan Provorov. They seriously need some more defensive help if they wanna compete for the Pacific.
As well, they’re gonna need an answer in net. Some believed the Jets would also engage LA on Connor Hellebuyck. However, it’s uncertain if the Kings will be able to take him on or extend him given the amount of assets and cap space they have left. There will either be more complicated deals like this or a lot of action in free agency for this team.
The Kings have made their big swing. They have pushed their chips to the center of the table with the acquisition of Pierre-Luc Dubois. It could still be the beginning of a very busy offseason in Hollywood.
