A night after old friend Patrik Laine spent about half the game riding the pine as John Tortorella’s latest benching victim, the man he was traded for will make his Jets debut Tuesday night.

After a two-week quarantine upon his arrival in Canada, Dubois practiced with the Jets for the first time Sunday, ahead of Tuesday’s contest in Calgary.

"It felt good to finally get out there. Two weeks of just working out in your living room keeps you, to a certain extent, in shape, but there's nothing like skating out there and [Sunday] was a good practice,” said Dubois.

The hot topic during Dubois 14-day hiatus was centered around exactly where Dubois would fit into head coach Paul Maurice’s lineup.

We got that answer on Sunday as the 22-year-old was centering Kyle Connor and Trevor Lewis.

"[Kyle Connor] is one of the most underrated players in the NHL. [Lewis] brings that experience and he's helping me with all the systems, he can pass the puck, and he works really hard,” said Dubois. "I think there's a lot of talent in the forward group and whoever you're playing with, you're playing with a really amazing player."

With Laine playing just once before being shipped to Columbus and Dubois yet to skate in a game with Winnipeg, the Jets have jumped out to a 7-3-1 record. Because of their start to the season, they can ease Dubois into the mix, moving different pieces around on the wing in order to find the right mix in their top-nine.

"As you watch the games, you see how the team plays, the identity of the team, they're hard to play against, they're big, they have skill, they can pass the puck, skate,” said Dubois. “Hopefully I can get in there and support [them].”

Everyone is well aware of how things ended for Dubois in Columbus and the minutes-or lack thereof—he played in his final days. After leading the club in assists (31) and points (49) last year, Dubois had one point in five games this season.

“He handled practice without a problem. You wouldn’t have been able to come to the rink and pick the guy that’s been in quarantine for two weeks out," said Maurice. "He pushed himself I think as much as he could when he was off the ice. And I think he’ll just get stronger and faster."

The addition of Dubois makes the Jets arguably the deepest team down the middle in all of the National Hockey League. However, with Mark Scheifele, Paul Stastny and Adam Lowry already holding things down at the center position, Maurice admits some of his centers may have to get use to moving out on the wings.

"We have a depth at center now that we've never had. We're going to eventually have to move some center men out to the wings, that's a far easier transition that coming from the wing to the middle,” said Maurice. “It drives the line, we have some size down the middle now as well, it really should help us, we feel defensively."

On top of his role in the Jets top-nine, Dubois joined Nikolaj Ehlers, Mathieu Perreault, Josh Morrissey and Andrew Copp on the second power play unit on Sunday and is expected to hold that role Tuesday night.

While Dubois may not pack the same offensive punch that Laine does, Dubois brings a more well-rounded two-way game to the table.

"I'm a two-way forward, a two-way center. I can play well defensively, play well offensively, I can block shots, I can hit, I can score, I can pass,” said Dubois. “I try to be the guy that does everything out there, supports his wingers, supports his defensemen.”

Dubois gives Maurice more flexibility with his lines, something Laine did not provide.

"Being able to add a center like Pierre-Luc, just such a rare thing to be able to do, especially one that young but who also has had a big chunk of his development time handled already,” said Maurice.

Whether it’s moving a center to the wing as Maurice mentioned, or moving wings up and down the lineup, affording them an opportunity to gel with a center that better fits their style of play, Dubois should do a lot more for the team than score goals, pick up assists, block shots and all those other little things that goes into being a successful hockey player.

“We've got ourselves a real good depth situation at center ice,” said Maurice. “Now we have to maximize it."

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