Pierre-Luc Dubois said he was surprised, then excited when he found out he was traded to the Washington Capitals, and now, he’s finally representing his new team on the ice.
Dubois skated in the Living Sisu Hockey League in Montreal, a 3×3 summer league founded by former Washington netminder Zach Fucale. It consists of top NHL and AHL players and top women’s players.
The 26-year-old was decked out in his Capitals gear, sporting a helmet, Bauer HyperLite gloves and team pants.
Dubois also appears to be switching stick brands, as he was using a Sherwood Rekker and also warming up with the Sherwood Code Encrypt, per GearGeek. He was using Bauer sticks last season.
Washington acquired Dubois from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for Darcy Kuemper at the end of June. The team is hoping that Dubois, who is signed for seven more years, can rediscover his game in D.C. and become a core player that can also bolster the offense, which struggled last season.
For Dubois, it’s a fresh start and change of scenery, and he’s also motivated and driven to succeed with his new club after things didn’t work out in L.A.
“I think just overcoming. it wasn’t the season I necessarily wanted, so already there, I had motivation. And then anything like this happens, I think any guy in the league will admit that there is an extra motivation behind it,” Dubois said of bouncing back. “You want to do well even more. It’s not like extra motivation was necessarily needed, but now that you have it, you can use it to your advantage… I could take (the trade) multiple ways, but I’m choosing to take it as extra motivation.”