Canadiens Almost Signed Dubois To Offer Sheet

The Montreal Canadiens organization has been interested in Pierre-Luc Dubois for years, almost dropping an offer sheet his way a couple of seasons ago.

On a recent episode of the Sick Podcast with Tony Marinaro, Aaron Portzline of The Athletic stopped by to talk about the Columbus Blue Jackets and shed some light on where things went wrong with Dubois.

According to Portzline, Dubois was under the impression he was leaving Columbus during the offseason of 2020 by way of a Canadiens offer sheet, which started the process of his eventual trade to the Winnipeg Jets.

“He wanted to be a Montreal Canadiens when he was a Columbus Blue Jacket,” said Portzline. “This is not a new desire for him. He was expecting an offer sheet from the Canadiens. If you remember, Jarmo Kekalainen made two deals at the 11th hour to clear cap space. The thing with offer sheets is, you don’t want your players signed to one and you want to set off the vibe that you will match it. I think Dubois thought he was getting out of Columbus on an offer sheet to Montreal and that’s where it all fell apart.”

An offer sheet for Dubois would have consisted of 2021 NHL Draft picks, likely the Canadiens’ 2021 1st-round pick, along with potentially their 2nd and 3rd-round picks, depending on the size of the offer.

Two of those selections were eventually used on top prospects Logan Mailloux and Riley Kidney.

It’s no secret that former general manager, Marc Bergevin, coveted Pierre-Luc Dubois for many years, dating back to the very day the Quebec native was drafted.

It was long rumoured that the Canadiens had a deal in place to move up in the 2016 NHL Draft to select the rugged forward, but he was ultimately snagged too early for the Canadiens to pull the trigger on a deal.

Since then, Dubois has been linked to the Canadiens almost every summer since then as a player that would fit the Montreal Canadiens’ identity and provide a combination of skill and size that the organization sorely lacked.

With Kent Hughes now at the helm of the team, it seems that interest in Dubois has persisted, with NHL Insider Elliott Friedman confirming that the Canadiens and Jets have spoken a few times this season about a potential offseason deal.

The threat of an offer sheet is still present this offseason, as it will be the last time Dubois will be labelled as a restricted free agent, but it’s far more likely that the Jets will want to secure some top assets if they were ever to move their top forward.