Dubois not to blame

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/07/2022 (1229 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Pierre-Luc Dubois clearly isn’t buying what the Winnipeg Jets are currently selling. Otherwise, he would have already put his name on a lucrative long-term contract extension, giving him all the comfort and security he could hope for.

That has many around these parts ready to paint the power forward as a puck pariah. Memo to the angry masses: You have your pitchforks pointed in the wrong direction.

Quite frankly, I don’t blame Dubois one bit for having commitment issues when it comes to his hockey home. I’d likely be doing the exact same thing if I were in his skates.

What has the organization done so far in this all-important summer to convince Dubois to put down permanent roots in Winnipeg because brighter days are on the horizon? A handful of players including Paul Stastny, Eric Comrie, Evgeny Svechnikov (Dubois’ friend and former junior teammate) and Kristian Vesalainen have gone out the door. Their spots have been filled with the likes of David Rittich, Kevin Stenlund, Saku Maenalanen, Alex Limoges, Ashton Sautner and Kyle Capobianco.

Feel free to briefly step away from this column to consult with Google or Hockeydb if your immediate response to the majority of the above names was “who?!”

At this point, you could make a valid argument that a Jets team that wasn’t good enough to even qualify for the playoffs last season is actually worse on paper, not better. With the exception of Rittich, all of the above players are likely to have more of an impact with the Manitoba Moose than the big club.

Winnipeg also swung and missed on trying to lure top coaching candidate Barry Trotz to town, and even interviewed John Tortorella — yes, the guy that drove Dubois right out of Columbus — as part of their search, with general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff speaking publicly about how productive that meeting was. That must have sent quite the mixed message.

Adding to the uncertainty is that top centre Mark Scheifele, starting goaltender Connor Hellebuyck and captain Blake Wheeler all have two years left on their contracts and can walk as unrestricted free agents in the summer of 2024. Which lines up to when Dubois would be able to shop his services around the league and choose a landing spot.

The Jets appear to be hoping that internal growth from returning players and collective chips on shoulders over a miserable campaign, combined with a fresh approach from new bench boss Rick Bowness and only some minor roster tweaks, will be enough to turn around the fortunes of the franchise.

That’s a risky approach, to say the least. Especially with so much at stake.

Meanwhile, many other NHL clubs have made big summer splashes. Columbus stunned the hockey world by luring Johnny Gaudreau. Florida landed Matthew Tkachuk in a blockbuster deal. Calgary instantly re-loaded with Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar. Ottawa added Alex DeBrincat and Claude Giroux. Seattle welcomed Oliver Bjorkstrand and Andre Burakovsky. Detroit sped up its re-build with Andrew Copp, David Perron and Ville Husso. Nashville beefed up with Ryan McDonagh and Nino Niederreiter. Los Angeles got sniper Kevin Fiala. Washington signed Dylan Strome and Darcy Kuemper.

You’ll find plenty of buzz in those markets. Not so much here in Winnipeg, where anger is all the rage and Dubois is taking an unfair, misplaced share of it.

I don’t get it. Dubois is 24, about to enter the prime of his career and is on the cusp of the biggest business decision of his career. How could anyone blame him for taking a wait-and-see approach when it comes to his next move, especially given the lay of the land right now. He’s going to get paid, regardless of where he goes. But finding a suitable fit, where winning is a clear priority, is clearly important. Why shouldn’t it be?

His 40-minute Zoom interview on Monday to discuss accepting his one-year, US$6 million contract will hopefully silence some critics for the time being, even if more questions were raised than answered. If nothing else, both Dubois and the Jets have bought themselves some additional time to figure things out.

For those who wish to portray Dubois as a villain here, it’s worth noting he’s done everything possible to downplay the drama. By accepting his qualifying offer, he ensures it doesn’t drag into training camp, and he also put to rest any suggestion of signing an offer sheet. He also didn’t file for arbitration, which could have led to a messy hearing that also would have guaranteed at least a US$6.65 million award coming his way.

Cynics will claim it was a deliberate move on his part to make him more tradeable. Regardless, he left some money on the table and took the path of least resistance.

Would you prefer Dubois go the Gaudreau route and string the Jets along, lulling them into a false sense of security that comes back to burn them?

Dubois also said all the right things about coming to camp motivated, and there’s reason to believe a player who is now working for his next contract will have some extra pep in his step. He carried himself like a leader on and off the ice last year, and I don’t expect that to change.

Much has been made of his agent’s mentioning of Montreal as a possible future destination and how that might back Winnipeg into a corner. As Dubois noted, Pat Brisson was simply responding to a query from a Quebec reporter. That molehill quickly turned into a mountain in the hockey-mad market that would love a Dubois homecoming. I don’t put much stock in it.

Something will eventually have to give. Either Dubois changes his mind over the next few months, or he’ll have to be moved to prevent losing him for nothing.

But it says here Dubois isn’t going to be the only one who will need to be sold on the future. Given their contract statuses you can throw in Hellebuyck and Scheifele, too, along with a disgruntled fan base that is looking for signs of hope but not finding a whole lot to get excited about so far this summer. I don’t imagine a handful of depth signings have triggered a box-office blitz.

There’s no question True North has its work cut out these days on many fronts. Based on everything we’ve seen so far — or, more accurately, what we haven’t seen — I don’t blame anyone for taking a “buyer beware” approach.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg