#im tempted to crackship laine and dubois

[sequestering]

what is up with pierre luc dubois? (a scrapbook)

This is the closest, I think, that the NHL has felt to the NBA. There's rumours, there's clashing personalities behind the scenes. It's a soap opera. There's intentional sabotage, back-room deals. This has been a very interesting saga in the NHL. (Staff & Graph Podcast 26.01.21)

idk anything about the blue jackets, but i do think the narrative of a young player blowing up his public image to exercise some agency over his life is weirdly compelling.

the timeline

okay in december, lebrun reports that dubois is looking for a trade.

31/12/20. dubois, who has been in contract negotiations all through the offseason, signs a very team-friendly bridge deal (2 yrs, $10 million) which seems to be aimed at making him easy to trade.

dubois says he’ll be professional about it. everyone is sure he’ll be professional about it, etc etc.

JM: It's gotta be such a difficult situation while [Dubois is in Columbus].

EF: Well, I think that he'll be a pro.

JM: Oh, I have no doubt that he'll be a pro. Listen, I've followed this guy going back to junior and everything about him is [professional]. I remember he was seventeen years old and listening to trainers from other teams. I'd talk to guys from other teams, and they'd say this kid - this sixteen, seventeen year old kid - he does activation like he's a pro, like he's a long-time NHL-er. I'm with you. Everything about Pierre Luc-Dubois is pro-style. (31 Thoughts podcast. Jan 13 2021)

22/01/21. dubois has that game where he plays abysmally - clearly no effort or interest at all, incredibly lazy - for 3 mins 55 secs and then gets benched for the rest of the game. everyone’s up in arms. general consensus is that he deserved the benching but there’s maybe something going on. he even gets a special bonus steve dangle’s dang-its video all to himself.

SD: And I have a question because I have never seen this in any sport. Maybe you guys can tell me an example. Has a player ever so obviously not tried in any sport? To the point where their team was like, we shouldn't even have to pay this guy? I want to know. I want to know just for precedent... And you might say, what's the big deal? It's not the first time a professional athlete has ever given a poor effort out there. Yeah, poor effort versus literally not trying!!!

torts explains why he benches dubois and it’s not unreasonable:

23/01/21. the big trade goes down.

not really relevant but my personal fave article on this thing because it’s dramatic and brings up the nhl’s aggressive conformity issues.

24/01/21. sportsnet runs a surprisingly emotional post-trade interview with dubois in which he says: it had nothing to do with torts; his parents are thrilled he’ll be in the city; he had a great relationship with his teammates and they were v supportive, etc. he also genuinely looks like he’s tearing up? hope the guy’s alright in winnipeg. (transcript)

PLD: At some point I thought there is Pierre-Luc Dubois the hockey player, and Pierre-Luc Dubois the human. I wanted to stay true to myself, to my teammates.

25/01/21. kekäläinen goes on leafs lunch on tsn radio 1050 saying that he has no idea why dubois wanted to leave and he wishes that dubois had just told him:

JK: There was nothing about these negotiations [that caused a problem] and I wish that Pierre-Luc would tell the truth about why he wanted out. He hasn’t even told me; he hasn’t told his teammates or anybody else. It certainly wasn’t about contract negotiations; I can assure you of that.

the theories (aka the fun stuff)

1. contract negotiations went bad

the blue jackets have a well-established history of hard bargaining with rfas or as gm kekäläinen puts it “using the hammer” in negotiations. as an rfa with no arbitration rights, dubois didn’t have a whole lot of leverage. unless he got an offer sheet (extremely unusual and goes against all the gms’ nice gentlemen’s agreements), dubois’ only real leverage was to refuse to sign a contract and not play. obviously that comes with a lot of other issues that he’d rather not deal with.

it’s not exactly surprising then that dubois spent the offseason in increasingly strained contract negotiations with the blue jackets. it wouldn’t be the first time this soured a player on a team - see ryan johansen and josh anderson. that said, loads of players get into contentious contract negotiations and get over it fast. everyone involved in the situation says that this wasn’t the problem. not sure this one holds a lot of water.

2. he wanted to play in a bigger market

I don't think it has a lot to do with the negotiation. I heard from a player that in Columbus they knew that this was an issue before [the negotiation began]. I don't think this was about the negotiation. The thing I've gotten is that apparently he just wants a bigger stage.

The first [explanation] was that the negotiations went bad, and I'd heard it wasn't that. And then, you saw last year in the playoffs that he'd battled with Tortorella at times. So, okay, was it a Tortorella thing? Someone said to me it's not solely that. You'd be wrong to say that it's simply a Tortorella thing.

I think what it is - for whatever reason - I think he wants a bigger stage. I think that that's kind of what we're looking at here. (Elliotte Friedman on SN960 radio. Jan 4 2021)

this is the easiest and tbh i think a not unlikely explanation. in a nice canadian market (apparently his first pick was the habs), dubois could be something akin to a super-star. hard to resist for a 22yr old.

ofc he ended up going to the only nhl city without an airport. equally, he want from top-line star center in columbus to probably second line in winnipeg; if he was looking for stardom it doesn’t seem to have worked out.

3. he hates tortorella

torts is famously very demanding with a “tough love and public humiliation” approach to coaching. torts had clashed quite publicly with dubois in august, lots of angry yelling on the bench.

dubois himself has said repeatedly that his relationship with torts was fine and that he was very grateful for torts’ coaching (see post-trade interiew). aaron portzline from the athletic said the same thing:

mostly this seems like an easy, kinda lazy narrative. again, seems unlikely.

4. he didn’t get on with his teammates

there’s a fair bit to suggest that there was something more going on here, more than torts or the contract. jeff marek dropped this particularly cryptic hint:

JM: There are always mitigating factors. Now, I’m with you. I don’t know that we have a clear picture of what has happened on in Columbus. After we talked about it on the podcast... I got a note from someone, who works in the industry, who says, “I heard your podcast. I’m not going to give you any details, but you’re right. There’s more to this story.”... This person said, “I know more of this story. You guys are on the right track. We may never know the complete story, but there’s more to this than just someone that just wants out.” (31 Thoughts Podcast. Jan 22 2021)

some people have linked this to the fact that the blue jackets have several very vocal maga trumpists on the team. i’ve seen people say they’re q-anon supporters? idk about that, but just going off twitter likes there’s definitely a fair bit of trump support and covid-denying going on: nathan gerbe and seth jones for sure; max domi probably; brandon dubinsky and zach werenski seem at least right-leaning. by contrast, pld seems pretty anti-trump. that could make for a non-ideal locker room.

again, dubois has himself said that his teammates were supportive. is this just wishful thinking from fans? probably. who knows. not me.

5. he was homesick

most of the teams that dubois was reported as being interested in were canadian. he ended up going to winnipeg where his parents live. his dad is a coach for the manitoba moose (the jets’ affiliate) and family are apparently very close.

it’s a bit flimsy, but i wouldn’t be surprised if part of this was a 22 yr old francophone canadian struggling in columbus, america.

bonus: patrik laine

just as bonus drama, there have been long-time rumours about clashes between wheeler and laine. they’re right back in the spotlight again with allegations that wheeler and scheifele (cap and alternate cap) created a toxic lockerroom and bullied laine out of winnipeg. obviously rumours are just that, but they’re good drama and worth mentioning. this whole thing is wild.