Los Angeles Kings head coach Todd McLellan has only coached Pierre-Luc Dubois for two games, but he firmly believes the Quebecer is exactly the player he received in the trade that brought him from Winnipeg.
His intelligence on the ice and the way he sees the game make McLellan understand why general manager Rob Blake wanted to add him to his roster.
“He is very cerebral, he reads the game well and reacts correctly, he uses his size,” said the pilot, whose comments were reported by lakingsinsider.com.
Dubois is essentially the only new forward in Los Angeles. He only had three practices before playing his first game for the Kings.
“It’s going to take a while because everyone knows how things work here and what they need to do,” McLellan said. It’s hard to play when you have to think a lot on the ice, but when it comes naturally to him, he gets even better.
His new teammates Drew Doughty and Anze Kopitar also had good words for the Sainte-Agathe-des-Mont native.
“With the arrival of Pierre-Luc we will definitely have one of the best center lines in the league,” said Doughty.
“From what I remember, he is a very talented and physically strong player when we played him,” Kopitar said.
Philip Danault is another player who is very happy with the arrival of Dubois. The two Quebecers met in the summer.
“He is a good guy and a very good player. He is a very good addition to our team. I can’t wait to see what he can bring to our team,” said the former Montreal Canadiens player.
Dubois made it clear last season that he wanted to leave the Winnipeg Jets. He was a restricted free agent in the summer of 2022 and had also signed a one-year contract with the Manitoba team. On June 27, 2023, he signed an 8-year contract worth $68 million with the Jets before being immediately traded to the Kings.
Last season, Dubois had the best offensive season of his career with 27 goals and 63 points in 73 games.