Pierre-Luc Dubois, we hardly knew ye

Kings fix a big mistake and gain a chunk of cap space by trading ineffective forward to Washington.

And so ends the Pierre-Luc Dubois era for the Kings, who gave up three prospects and a draft pick and took on his eight-year, $68-million contract last summer in hopes he would lead them deep into the Stanley Cup playoffs.

After one awful season (16 goals and 40 points in 82 games amid stretches where he appeared indifferent at both ends of the ice) and after the Kings’ third consecutive first-round playoff exit at the hands of the Edmonton Oilers, it became apparent Dubois was more a question than an answer to the Kings’ problems.

Applaud general manager Rob Blake, if you will, for shedding the monstrous contract that prevented him from upgrading the roster at the trade deadline, and for bringing back familiar but undistinguished goaltender Darcy Kuemper to share the net with David Rittich, as Blake outlined his plans in a conference call with media on Wednesday.

Bow in Blake’s general direction for persuading the Washington Capitals to relieve the Kings of the burden Dubois had become, especially considering that Blake repeated he hadn’t planned to buy out Dubois’ contract. With Kuemper carrying a salary cap hit of $5.25 million for three more seasons, the Kings gained about $3 million in cap space to upgrade via free agency or trades. They’ll need it. They’re a long way from having the depth, skill, and physicality to compete with the elite teams in the West.

Also on the plus side, Dubois’ departure will result in more time at center for Quinton Byfield, who’s coming off a breakthrough 20-goal, 55-point performance while alternating between center and right wing.

“For the most part we would like to get him back to center ice, so you’ve got [Anze] Kopitar and you’ve got [Phillip] Danault, and you’ve got Byfield,” Blake said, “and I think he took strides this year that allowed us or enabled us to see him taking on those responsibilities with his own line in the middle.”

But chalk up a huge mistake on Blake’s side of the ledger, too, and it was far from the first.

When Blake acquired Dubois from Winnipeg last June, Blake represented Dubois as a key piece in the Kings’ ascent toward Stanley Cup contention, the big, physical center who’d give them strength up the middle and allow them to compete with bigger teams in the West. Dubois—who raised red flags about his commitment when he asked his two previous teams to trade him—was never that player for the Kings, never consistently productive at center or on the wing under Todd McLellan or Jim Hiller, who succeeded McLellan.

Remember, too, that Blake had designated Cal Petersen as the Kings’ goalie of the future and signed him to an extravagant three-year, $15-million contract. His future was limited, and the Kings have since made do with journeyman goalies.

If Blake can make that big a mistake with Dubois and other smaller missteps like Petersen, how much can he be trusted to make the right moves to get the Kings back into Cup contention? Yes, he fixed the Dubois mess but he shouldn’t have made that trade in the first place. That’s a huge failure in judgment.

Asked why Dubois didn’t succeed with the Kings, Blake took the high road on Wednesday. “I don’t think I did a good a good enough job integrating him in the right roles on the team here this year. I think it wasn’t a great fit in that aspect for us and we’ll take responsibility for that,” Blake said.

Surely, a portion of the blame belongs to Dubois. But Blake wouldn’t go there. “I put it on us,” he said. “Like I said, we’ve got to work better as a group within this organization to make that fit.”

Kuemper won the Stanley Cup with Colorado in 2021-22 but was 13-14-3 with Washington last season, compiling an .890 save percentage and 3.31 goals-against average in 33 games. Nothing impressive, but the Kings feel comfortable with him as a known quantity. Kuemper and Rittich likely will hold the fort until Erik Portillo gets more experience in the American Hockey League. Cam Talbot, who Blake said provided “very reliable goaltending” last season, is an unrestricted free agent. It’s possible Talbot could be in the picture, though Blake said he hadn’t talked to Talbot about a new deal.

Acquiring Kuemper to support Rittich, “can help stabilize the position for a few years, which continues our growth with Portillo in the American League,” Blake said. “We saw some good things out of him this year, but we also project two, three years down the road. so I think that helps solve an issue here for us.”

Many issues remain, including the Kings’ need for physicality on defense and size overall. Blake said young players such as Akil Thomas, Alex Turcotte, and Brandt Clarke will be given chances to make the roster next season, and they’ll have to prove they’re ready. Kopitar will be 37 years old this summer. Drew Doughty, 34, averaged 25 minutes and 48 seconds’ ice time during the regular season (second in the NHL) and upped that to 27:18 in the Kings’ five-game playoff loss. Can he be counted on to play such heavy minutes at a high level again?

The Kings took a step backward this season. There’s no other way to look at it for a team that still hasn’t won a playoff series since its 2014 Cup championship and mistakenly thought Dubois would be a difference-maker. Trading Dubois is a step forward but it puts them basically where they were a year ago, but with mainstays Kopitar and Doughty a year closer to the end of their respective outstanding careers. Blake did well to get the Kings out of a jam, but his poor judgment put them there in the first place, and who’s to say that won’t happen again.