Ben Shelley: Are the Kings making a mistake by not buying out Pierre-Luc Dubois?

Lets be honest we cant exactly come out and say we are especially if there is a chance we cant due to the whole age/end of cup date.

That being said, yes we need to consider a buy out. Maybe its time to consider a full blown rebuild.?

Trade Clarke for Konecny and Laughton to help that pick against Edmonton and strong pp teams too in the now to do a rebuild.

We never used our compliance buyout from the last lockout. Maybe the league will do us a solid and let us use it now?

Blake is still in charge, so a buyout or trade would be too much of an admission of failure.

Who knows? Maybe he turns it around. I hope so.

The guy is one year into his 8yr contract. One bad year on an eight year deal doest’t mean buyout, ever. Unless there is something else going on with this guy! If it’s just hockey then there are lots of hoops to jump through before a buy-out. He needs a mentor and coach that know how to keep him focused.

I didn't understand why they acquired him in the first place given they had no need for him. But he's playing as the 3C so that cap hit is doomed to look bad in that role.

I definitely think they are making a big mistake. To start off, look how good he did in this tournament. He put up points as did Fiala whom won the tournament mvp. Granted that wasn't the NHL but it seems like the Kings are always a defense first which isn't getting them anywhere. They need a balance but they keep hiring within and keeping the same boring system that isn't working. Besides all the other things we saw with PLD last year, this isn't a system he will do good in. The Kings need a full management change and Hiller should not be the head coach. He kept the 1-3-1 even when they were losing in the playoffs.

I still don't understand why Blake went and got this guy anyways. They already had 2 centers with Byfield who is a natural center. They needed a goalie and if they couldn't get one then why force a trade for someone who has a bad reputation and not even needed.

Trade Clarke for Konecny and Laughton to help that pick against Edmonton and strong pp teams too in the now to do a rebuild.
- GPerogie

I don't ever see that happening, but I could see some kind of deal involving Laughton and Turcotte.

he's not even in to the 8 year contract yet

he's not even in to the 8 year contract yet
- Stu17

Yes he is. The contract started July 1, 2023. He can't get trade protections in his first year because of league requirements, but the contract most definitely started already.
https://www.capfriendly.c...players/pierre-luc-dubois

It would be a mistake to buy him out now unless the room is united in hating the guy. He'll only be 26 when the season starts and his best hockey is ahead of him. It's going to be the opposite of most contracts where it looks ugly now, but should be an amazing deal at the end. The cap percent is going to go down every year, so even if he tops out as a 2C, 8.5 is a reasonable number.

Why would you buy him out when either Montreal or Ottawa would pay for him? Losing Cap space and assets makes no sense.

I think he would have some interest in the trade market, you would probably have to retain 1-2 million and/or take on a cap dump as well.

Absolutely not making a mistake. He fits comfortably under the cap. Kings can still add certain players for bottom 6. I’ve done multiple cap friendlies to make things better and it works.

People are forgetting the cap will continue to rise until a possible lockout. Kopitars contract will end in 2 years.

Kings do need to change their system and not rely so heavily on defense and let players like Dubois play where he does best, IN THE FRONT OF THE NET.

The 1-3-1 is out of date and needs to be implemented i certain scenarios.

There are other players around the league, for example, Josh Norris, also 25yo C. He “earned/not so earned” his 7,950,000 contracts after 114gms 90pts. He can’t even stay healthy. He only played 50gms this year and put up 30pts (the points are nice compared to games played but I’d rather have a player that can play 75-82gms and put up 60+ points at 8,500,000 than Norris at this point. Reminds me of Vilardi (who I didn’t like in the trade but have to give to get). Sure if Norris is healthy he’d be better but he’s only played 183 games out of a loss 328gms.

I bring Norris for comparison and some numb nuts traded Norris for Dubois with 1.5 retained on PLD and only sends back Norris.

Numb nuts didn’t realize kings would be paying Norris 9,450,000 and they get PLD for 7,000,000 🤦🏼‍♀️