Pierre-Luc Dubois: Should The Kings Buy Him Out?
The LA Kings have egg on their face after the Pierre-Luc Dubois trade. Not that any of this is hindsight bias. We here at the site always thought Winnipeg won that trade. Dubois has no dawg in him and he’s past the point of trying to teach him how to bark. It is what it is at this point. Talented but a total cancer. That’s Dubois.
The NHL Offseason will be here before you know it and the Kings have a decision to make. This Dubois has no chance of working. Do they buy him out and just accept the reality of the sunk cost fallacy (I have a post on this very thing that exists in sports) that they currently live in?
Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff weighed in on the possibility of a Dubois buyout.
“Buyout Structure: 14 seasons varying from $1.1 mil to $3.8 mil
Scoop: Yes, we heard GM Rob Blake say at locker cleanout day that the Kings were not planning on buying out Dubois. But this makes too much sense. At least until June 24, it does. That’s when Dubois turns 26. For now, he is 25, and that means the Kings are only responsible for paying one-third of the money remaining on his deal, instead of two-thirds which happens when he celebrates his 26th birthday. If the Cup Final goes to Game 7, then it won’t be possible. And of course, a 14-year buyout sounds painful now, but the majority of the cap hits are negligible at a time when the cap will be well exceeding $100 million per year. The Kings would save $32 million in real cash – which is a serious amount of dough. It’s better to admit a mistake and pay a lesser price rather than double down and have it hurt much worse in the long-term.”
If you’re the Kings, you have to seriously consider this. I don’t know how you don’t. LA almost has an out here to only pay one third of the remaining money. Take it and run, Rob Blake. Unless you can work a deal with Montreal, a buyout appears to be the best path forward.
Dubois, 25, notched 40 points in 82 games registering a -9 on the season. It’s not even about the stat sheet. The guy is just not a winning player and never will be. Get out now while you still can or suffer the consequences later.
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