With his name featuring heavily in trade rumors, Pierre-Luc Dubois has taken himself one step closer to an exit from Winnipeg. According to TSN’s Darren Dreger, Dubois has chosen to accept his one-year, $6M qualifying offer in advance of the upcoming deadline. The Jets have also officially announced the extension.
This means that Dubois has, at least for this summer, elected to not sign a long-term deal with the Jets, as many have expected. Dubois will be an unrestricted free agent in two years’ time. Dubois’ representation has communicated a desire for him to end up playing for the Montreal Canadiens, and Dubois actually attended the draft in Montreal because he believed a trade would be completed on the draft floor. That did not happen, though, so Dubois has now accepted his qualifying offer as a means of simplifying his exit from Winnipeg.
The Jets surrendered two significant players to acquire Dubois: Patrik Laine and Jack Roslovic, and they did so because they believed a one-two punch at the center position of Dubois and Mark Scheifele would be the key to the next era of contending Jets squads.
That pairing of Dubois and Scheifele doesn’t look like it’ll remain in place for much longer, as the Jets will have to decide if they want to deal Dubois this summer or continue with him on the roster in the hopes that he changes his mind about staying in Winnipeg.
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