Pierre-Luc Dubois Continues To Pave Path For Trade To Canadiens

The NHL trade rumours involving Winnipeg Jets centre Pierre-Luc Dubois and the Montreal Canadiens are about to get even louder.

Per our friends at PuckPedia, Montreal Canadiens trade target and Winnipeg Jets restricted free agent centre Pierre-Luc Dubois is not expected to file for arbitration by the 5 PM ET deadline Sunday.

Dubois just finished a two-year contract that carried a $5M AAV and is coming off a season in which the 24-yr-old, Ste-Agathe-Des-Monts, Quebec native is coming off a solid 2021-22 season with the Jets. In 81 games, Dubois had 28 goals and 32 assists. So why wouldn’t Dubois take his chances in arbitration where he would likely get a decent pay raise and how does this benefit the Canadiens pursuit of the 6-foot-3, 218-pound centre?

With the 5pm ET RFA Arbitration filing Deadline today,

Players believed to be filing:
Mangiapane, Yamamoto, Zacha, Puljujarvi, Engvall, Kapanen, Kylington, Bear, Geekie, Mikkola (since signed)

Players not expected to file:
Laine, Dubois, Roy, Kuninhttps://t.co/cozaet6dHE

— PuckPedia (@PuckPedia) July 17, 2022

Well, now, if he so chooses, Dubois, can hold out and have a better chance at pressuring the Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff into working out a trade with Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes.

Dubois’ agent Pat Brisson has already been greasing the skids and increasing the NHL trade rumours for his client to wind up playing for the team he grew up cheering for and has wanted to play for

“Montreal is a city he would probably … I can talk about it because he doesn’t have a contract at the moment — he’s a restricted free agent,” Brisson told TVA Sports in French on Wednesday. “Montreal is a place, a city he’d like to play in. That’s all I can say about that.”

Radio-Canada reporter Martin Leclerc recently confirmed that Dubois was at the NHL Draft with the expectation that he would be traded to the Canadiens at the draft, but according to The Athletic, the deal fell through because the Canadiens were unwilling to part with a certain player that the Jets wanted in the trade.

Then, this past week, while he is not allowed to mention Pierre-Luc Dubois by name due to NHL tampering rules, Hughes didn’t do anything to silence the Dubois to Canadiens NHL trade rumours when asked about them recently.

“If we had the means to acquire a big centre who is established in the NHL,” Hughes said, “for sure we would have an interest.”

Obviously, Cheveldayoff doesn’t have to trade Dubois or he could find another team on the NHL trade market that makes what he feels would provide a better return, but make no doubt, Dubois and Brisson will continue to do their best to force a trade to the Canadiens.