Capitals Pierre-Luc Dubois gives ridiculous reasonings for his awful play last season
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Fresh off a massive $68 million contract with the LA Kings, Pierre-Luc Dubois had a disastrous season and was traded to the Washington Capitals.
Of course, this trade was after the rumors of a possible buyout, even with Pierre-Luc Dubois still having almost $60 million left on his deal. Indeed, for most of his time with the LA Kings, he was playing more in a bottom-six role and could not find his form.
Now a member of the Washington Capitals, Pierre-Luc Dubois has gone on the record to discuss what went wrong in Los Angeles. He's passed blame up the chain of command to head coach Todd McLellan, where he's blamed a poor system and their less-than-stellar working relationship. Dubois released a full statement on the problems.
"Take it as you will but, I've always needed clear direction to be able to work at 100%.
I get confused when there are grey areas. I ask myself too many questions. It's something I've been working on since I was young. And, from my very first conversations with the team, I didn't really know what was expected of me. I didn't know where I fit in. You can't play well when you're asking yourself too many questions.
We didn't talk very often," said Dubois of Kings head coach Todd McLellan. "Todd is more of a team tactician. Maybe we didn't have that kind of relationship. Maybe it was me that was too demanding, wanting the path forward explained to me. It is obviously my fault that it didn't work.
I tried to live up to the challenge, but I was stuck in a gray area the whole year. I didn't feel at home. My teammates helped and I wanted to break through, but it just wasn't working."
I get confused when there are grey areas. I ask myself too many questions. It's something I've been working on since I was young. And, from my very first conversations with the team, I didn't really know what was expected of me. I didn't know where I fit in. You can't play well when you're asking yourself too many questions.
We didn't talk very often," said Dubois of Kings head coach Todd McLellan. "Todd is more of a team tactician. Maybe we didn't have that kind of relationship. Maybe it was me that was too demanding, wanting the path forward explained to me. It is obviously my fault that it didn't work.
I tried to live up to the challenge, but I was stuck in a gray area the whole year. I didn't feel at home. My teammates helped and I wanted to break through, but it just wasn't working."
Whether this assessment by Pierre-Luc Dubois of the Kings and Todd McLellan is or isn't correct, only time will tell. However, one thing for sure is that LA Kings GM Rob Blake felt a need to be relieved of him, at any cost.
A player with trade requests from both the Columbus Blue Jackets, who drafted him third overall in 2016, and the Winnipeg Jets, Pierre-Luc Dubois is now on his fourth team at just 26 years old. The question is, when will he begin to take some accountability for his own career trajectory?
| POLL | ||
SEPTEMBRE 9|210 ANSWERS Capitals Pierre-Luc Dubois gives ridiculous reasonings for his awful play last season Will Pierre-Luc Dubois regain his old form with the Washington Capitals? | ||
| Yes | 30 | 14.3 % |
| No | 180 | 85.7 % |
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