Trade request ‘a situation’ for Blue Jackets
NASHVILLE, TENN. — Pierre Luc-Dubois and his fractured relationship with the Blue Jackets has become the topic du jour in the NHL, nestled on the tips of many tongues across the league landscape.
Dubois is not interested in staying with the Jackets long term, has indeed requested a trade and the league is now aflutter with thoughts on potential suitors, offers and interested teams, of which there appear to be many.
Meanwhile, the Blue Jackets
have a season to contest and Dubois remains their top center. After a disappointing 3-1 loss to Nashville in the season opener Thursday, the Jackets have 54 games remaining — after playing Saturday night against the Predators — and there is no true sense of when the Dubois situation will be resolved.
“It’s a situation. it is,” said coach John Tortorella, who talked openly about it earlier this week on his weekly radio appearance. “It’s a situation and we’ll go through it day by day.”
That means dealing with trade speculation, which ramped up to a fevered pitch this week after Tortorella’s comments.
As for what happens next, the short answer is that the 22-year-old Dubois remains a Blue Jacket until he isn’t one, likely centering the top line and biding his time.
General manager Jarmo Kekalainen made it clear during a season-opening conference call with reporters that he won’t be pressured into trading a player who is still in his restricted free agent years and doesn’t have a no-trade clause — meaning the only leverage Dubois would have in the process is to make it known whether he’d be willing to sign a longterm deal with a potential trade partner.
Otherwise, it’s up to Kekalainen to determine where and when to trade him — if he decides to at all before the April 12 deadline.
“When we acquire a player’s rights, we have them for a certain amount of time, from entry level to seven years forward or to the age of 27, and then we make decisions on where they play,” Kekalainen said. “Wayne
Gretzky’s been traded, so anybody can be traded, but we decide where and when and with whom we make that transaction and we always do it with the Columbus Blue Jackets’ best interest in mind (for) the future.”
There reportedly is no shortage of suitors, with the Montreal Canadiens, Winnipeg Jets, Los Angeles Kings and Calgary Flames most commonly cited.
Montreal, near Dubois’ hometown and where he lives in the offseason, is thought to be his preferred landing spot, but logistical issues tied to the U.S.-Canadian border could be a stumbling block.
For the Blue Jackets, finding the right deal is the key to when or if a trade happens.
An NHL source told The Dispatch this week that Montreal center Jesperi Kotkaniemi, the No. 3 overall draft pick in 2018, and defenseman Victor Mete were part of a package offered for Dubois. But other reports have said the Blue Jackets are more interested in the Canadiens’ Nick Suzuki, a 21-yearold center taken 13th overall in 2017 by Vegas.