Pierre-Luc Dubois opens his heart: he responds to Drew Doughty

Pierre-Luc Dubois was fed up with his coach, Todd McLellan, with whom he was playing yo-yo.

Mounted in alignment. Scroll down the lineup. He plays as a midfielder on the third or fourth line, and plays on the wing with two of the team's best attacking players (Kopitar and Befield). Then go back to the middle of the third or fourth line.

We give him a few minutes. We take minutes of it. All the while, the Los Angeles media calls him the spoiled brat who pulls his sleds. Singer wears tinted eyebrows to look 'fresh'.

Pierre-Luc Dubois and the colored condom: a testimony that sends shivers down your spine 👇☠️😳https://t.co/z3yapedUCl

— hockey30.com (@HOCKEY30_com) January 25, 2024

Many things were tried to keep Pierre-Luc Dubois off the floor during his first season with the Los Angeles Kings. Only a few have succeeded, at least with any sense of coherence or sustainability.

Don't be surprised by the words. The Los Angeles Kings are this year's NHL disappointment. While they are favorites to win the Stanley Cup, they are on their way to hell, and are on the verge of leaving the playoff picture.

At the heart of the concern is Dubois, the 25-year-old forward who the Kings acquired from Winnipeg last June for three forwards from last year's playoff team (Gabriel Vilardi, Alex Iavalo and Rasmus Kubari) and a 2024 second-round pick.

The Kings also agreed to accept Dubois's eight-year, $68 million contract and a full no-trade clause that goes into effect this summer. (July 1, 2024: Dubois can submit list of 15 teams he refuses to trade.)

Pierre-Luc Dubois's no-movement clause will not come into effect until after this season……#NHLTradeDeadlinehttps://t.co/m0ZBBum1V4

– NHL Trade Rumors (@NHLTradeRumors) January 27, 2024

When a team makes that kind of commitment, they expect to have an impact player. General Manager Rob Blake expected this. Head coach Todd McLellan was counting on it. Dubois was the contractor involved in this. With 10 goals and 10 assists in 45 matches.

Dubois, who finally agreed to go public with the media, refrained from giving a grade during his first months with the team, saying: “I don't really use grades or anything like that.” But he admitted that he was unable to do so. She has a noticeable positive impact on the team.

“I think I should make a difference.”DuBois said. “There's no doubt about it. That's why I'm here. I think I have to fit in. And what's a difference maker? You can make a difference. A difference in so many ways. You can be a driver of change in the locker. The room. On the ice. You can be a driver of change For young people, and it helps everyone. It is up to me to know what I have to do and what I can do to be a force for change in the role given to me, with the circumstances of everything.

“It's my job. It's my job to figure out how I can help this team win hockey games every night. Some nights it might be goals. Some nights it might be physical. Some nights it might be confrontations. Some nights it might be. “On the power play. That's what I'm here to do and that's the type of player I constantly want to be. “It's up to me to do it to understand it.”

Dubois scored last Wednesday to cap a three-goal first period for the Kings against the Buffalo Sabres. But that didn't stop them from playing poorly in the second and third halves, resulting in a 5-3 loss after they were on top, prompting Drew Doughty to question his teammates' motives. Everyone knew that Dougie was aiming directly at Dubois.

Anze Kopitar lamented his team's straying from what made them successful until late December, and McClellan used the words “stupid” and “stupid” to describe his team's performance amid increasing questions about its standing from coaches.

In that loss, Dubois played a season-low 11 minutes, 17 seconds, moving back to center on the third line between rookie Alex Laferriere and part-time player Jarrett Anderson-Dolan.

He said his powerful goal to go 3-1 up “was good in that moment” but added: “It doesn't mean much if you're 5-3 down after two hours.”

““Everyone in this room thinks winning a hockey game is the best feeling.”DuBois continued.

“Scoring a goal is great. It's fun. You get to celebrate with the five guys on the ice. It doesn't mean much if you don't go home with two points.”

Blame is assigned when a team with high expectations fails to deliver. The sudden fall of the kings exaggerated this. Dubois isn't the only reason why winning has become a chore over the past month. But he is part of the theoretical group that bears responsibility for their failures.

His 36 points are easily a career low over a full 82-game season. (His 21 points in the 2020-21 season came in the shortened, 56-game season, during which he was traded from Columbus to Winnipeg.) It won't get any better when two players Gabriel Vilardi and Alex Iavallo were traded for Dubois, it was part An integral part of a Jets team that, with a 30-11-5 record, has become one of the best teams in the West.

Connect all of this to the struggle of kings, and you will find someone who bears the brunt of the experts' criticism.

“Pierre-Luc Dubois was a miserable failure of himself.”TSN analyst Craig Patton said during a recent show with Vancouver-area commentators Don Taylor and Rick Dhaliwal. “His efforts were terrible. If that's the account you want to give yourself after signing a long-term contract and committing the team to you, then he should be ashamed of his style of play.”

“He should be embarrassed to play.”@Craig J Patton He influenced the conflicts of the Kings of Los Angeles and the play Pierre-Luc Dubois.

The full interview..https://t.co/GEyIvN76bn pic.twitter.com/laasSG8hjN

– Donnie and Dhali (@DonnieandDhali) January 23, 2024

Patton added that he supports DuBois. “But not that”He said. “Not the way he's playing now.”

Meanwhile, ESPN analyst Ray Ferraro said last week on his podcast with Darren Dreger that after watching Dubois at the end of the Kings' six-game road trip, “He's looking for an easy match.”

“Man, he's big and strong.” Ferraro continued. “It's going to be a nightmare to play against him. But the last game, I know it's the sixth game on the trip — I watched the previous game, too — he never put his nose over the puck. When he was hired, he was completely different.” Player.That day he was just skating.

“He's got to start working. If they want to get out of this hole they're in now – they're a good team but they're in a hole. They need him to play. Not just a little bit but a lot more than he's playing.”

While McClellan has occasionally praised him after games in which he was noticed, he became critical of Dubois last Monday after the Kings' shootout loss to San Jose. The coach acknowledged that moving him between the lines and playing in different positions might hinder him.

“But at the end of the day, whether PL has four minutes or PL has 24 minutes, he has to make the difference with or without the puck.”He said. “We've talked enough about this. It's time.”

Todd McLellan is fed up with Pierre-Luc Dubois: https://t.co/KQrjdyXtAl

– TVA Sports (@TVASports) January 23, 2024

In Columbus, Dubois shared the starting center role with Boone Jenner but was viewed as a young star who was destined to be their mainstay up the middle until he asked to be traded.

In Winnipeg, he played second behind Mark Scheifele but was outpaced at times until things got worse.

Now, in his first season with Los Angeles, Dubois has largely been the third baseman behind Kopitar and Phillip Danault.

“You have Kopitar and Phillip Danault, what do you need for PLD? Do you need a third big Fkn center??@Shane O'Brien55 Pierre-Luc Dubois puts it on a milk carton #GoKingsGo #Missincurfew Episode 252 | @DKNetwork pic.twitter.com/NYX1Jl6KGO

— Curfew in Messin (@MissinCurfew) January 24, 2024

When asked on Thursday how he dealt with the way McClellan was treating him, Dubois paused and then reiterated how he needs to work to make a bigger impact for the club.

“The role I played in Columbus, what was asked of me there, you get used to it and you apply it on the ice.”He said. “Then in Winnipeg, it's the same thing. You get a role. You figure it out. How can you be a special player every night in that role with this opportunity that you have and you figure it out.”

“It's the same thing here. I've been given a new role. It's a role that I have to learn how to do and make it my own. And you know, it's up to me to figure it out and become a better player.”

After Wednesday's loss, Doughty was particularly critical of his teammates and said: “I think we have guys in this room who are very worried about themselves and worried about their points and worried about things like that.” He did not refer to anyone by name. However, Dubois's history of asking to leave the two previous teams has led many to make the connection – correctly or incorrectly – between Doughty's comments and Dubois.

Pierre-Luc Dubois was publicly destroyed by Drew Doughty 👇👀☠️ https://t.co/jH3wkzr3sa

— hockey30.com (@HOCKEY30_com) January 25, 2024

Dubois said he felt Doughty spoke from the heart and that his history as a champion, as well as his difficult times with the Kings, gave him the right to express his opinion.

Drew Doughty didn't hold back from post-game media availability. 😳

(🎥: YouTube/Los Angeles Kings) pic.twitter.com/TjpaQ0OdFp

– TSN (@TSN_Sports) January 25, 2024

“There is what happens behind closed doors here, and there is what happens in the media.”He said. “Dewey has won it all. When a guy talks like that, everyone here listens. Including the guys who've won. Including the new guys, the young guys. The guys who haven't won. He goes out there every night with that passion. Play with that passion.” “Speak with such emotion. There's not three Deweys, two Deweys. There is only one Dewey.

“You know him really well. It's a big thing. He's passionate. I'm sure he'll come out in the next game and play with the same passion and try to reignite the players. It starts here.”

Drew Doughty calls out drama queen Pierre-Luc Dubois.

PLD is a cancer and destroys any team it is involved with. I told you it was all bad business. https://t.co/0AWO4GwtAC

– Matt, Enhanced Demon Hunter (@_ExMortis) January 25, 2024

Will Doughty's attempt to start a fire with Dubois begin? Dubois talked about his first season with the Jets and how he initially struggled to adapt to the changed role after being a starting center with the Blue Jackets. He described it as frustrating but said it made him stronger in the end. He remains confident things will improve for the Kings.

“I'm the same player I've always been,” he said. “It's simple. It's up to me to find out.”