Black Hockey Man

The Columbus Blue Jackets have traded Pierre-Luc Dubois to the Winnipeg Jets, ending a saga that began with Dubois’ trade request before the season, and culminated in one of the most exciting in-season plotlines in recent memory. There’s a lot to digest with this trade from a strictly on-ice perspective (which we’ll get to, I promise) but it’s worthwhile to examine how we got to this move and its potential long-term ramifications on the league.

There’s a story of player empowerment here intertwined with the intrigue of this blockbuster trade and that’s no accident. The NBA, long the gold-standard league in terms of exciting player movement, has seen its players experience a dramatic increase in control over their career paths in the last decade. It’s a win for the players but also the fans who get to follow all the fast-paced drama. The NHL has been sorely lacking in that department, but the Dubois trade saga has given us a taste of how fun a league with more empowered players would be. 

Dubois’ story bears a striking resemblance to NBA superstar James Harden’s recent quest for a trade away from the Houston Rockets. Harden asked for a trade out of Houston last year, got irritated when it appeared the team was moving too slowly, and took matters into his own hands. For Harden, this was showing up late to join the team for training camp and criticizing the organization in a press conference following a game. Harden would get moved the next day. Dubois followed the exact same path to a trade when he got his wish following his benching after last Thursday’s game against Tampa. 

A lot of traditional hockey people were angry to see Dubois take a now-legendary shift where he clearly was giving zero effort (although I thought it was hilarious) but it was an absolutely necessary step for Dubois to take. Dubois had been acting in good faith throughout this entire ordeal. He was a restricted free agent and rather than let this get ugly and spill into the season, he signed a bridge deal with Columbus and showed up ready to play. Aside from the Tampa game, Dubois started this year putting up numbers right in line with what he’s done during his four-year career. 

Obviously, it’s impossible to say what exactly went on behind the scenes, but from an outsider’s perspective, it appears Columbus tried to strong-arm Dubois. The Blue Jackets can’t be faulted for wanting to get a maximized return for their best player, but it does feel like they took advantage of Dubois giving his all despite wanting out. Head coach John Tortorella and GM Jarmo Kekäläinen seemed content to wait until the perfect trade rolled around; they had two years to do it and Dubois was still giving them his all every night so why not, right? That approach left Dubois with no choice but to take actions that would irritate his teammates, the higher-ups in the Blue Jackets organization, and hockey fans in Columbus. However, outside of those constituencies, we should be glad he did. We got a truly exciting 48 hours and a taste of all the fun NBA fans have because of it.

Now for the trade itself, which is a lot to go through on its own. Dubois won an NBA-style power struggle and now we get to analyze an NBA-style trade. No AHL players or prospects in leagues spread out across the globe were exchanged in this move, as we often see in big trades (although a 2022 3rd round pick is heading to Winnipeg). The Jets gave up wingers Patrick Laine and Jack Roslovic. Interestingly, Laine and Dubois rounded out the top three picks in the 2016 Draft after Auston Matthews went first overall. They’ll be forever linked not only because of that draft and this trade, but also for being trailblazers in the movement for players wanting more control early in their careers. Although he wasn’t as aggressive in his demands as Dubois and things went much more slowly in this situation, there have been rumors of Laine wanting out of Winnipeg since 2019. 

Laine is looking to rejuvenate a career that hasn’t gone off the tracks fully, but hasn’t followed a linear trajectory, either. Laine followed up a rookie campaign where he notched 36 goals, 27 of which came at even strength, with a 44-goal sophomore season in 2018, when he was the top goal-scorer for a Jets team that would reach the Western Conference Finals. 

The last two seasons haven’t been awful for him by any stretch, but he hasn’t been able to reach the heights of his first two years. I thought of Laine as a young Ovechkin, the way he burst onto the scene piling up goals. He has the talent to get back on that path, but it could be difficult for him to do that right away given the enormous dearth of center depth in Columbus. Dubois’ departure leaves Max Domi as the Blue Jackets top center and, while Domi is a fine player, as a number one center? Yeah, they’re gonna need to address that in the offseason.

Winnipeg, for their part, is getting a dynamic 22 year-old player in Dubois for a price that is not exorbinant. Considering players like Dubois don’t become available regularly, the Jets have to be happy the centerpiece of the trade was a player they were already considering moving. I’ve been a huge fan of Dubois for some time, even before he orchestrated this move out Columbus. He plays with a power style that is very fun to watch, and at times, shows shades of Nathan MacKinnon (another personal favorite of mine). 

Adding to the good news for Winnipeg, they can take a somewhat slower approach to Dubois’ development than Columbus was doing. Dubois could certainly be a true number one center at some point (maybe even now!) but unlike with the Blue Jackets, he doesn’t absolutely have to be that right now in Winnipeg because of the presence of Mark Scheifele. Winnipeg has the luxury of reaping the benefits right now of having a player like Dubois, without forcing him into a role like Columbus did. As for the 3rd round pick they’re getting, well it’s a 3rd round pick.

It’s a trade that is fun for observers and appears to be an even swap for both sides, one that hopefully reinvigorates two of the league’s more intriguing young players.

The Edmonton Oilers defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1 on Saturday in a game that was a defensive battle in regulation that morphed into a track meet in overtime. This win gave the Oilers a sparkling 10-4-1 record through 15 games, good for 21 points and tied for first place in the Western Conference. I, like most reasonable people, predicted Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl would, once again, be wasting away another one of their prime years on a team with a subpar supporting cast and leaky goaltending. Of course, this hasn’t been the case so far, and the Oilers have been one of the league’s most surprising teams in the first month of the season. The question on everyone’s mind is: can this team that had such low preseason expectations continue to play such high-quality hockey? It won’t be easy, but I think there’s reason to believe the Oilers are for real.

Any conversation about this team has to start with their two bona fide superstars (McDavid and Draisaitl) and their fringe superstar (Ryan Nugent-Hopkins). These three have been point producing machines for the last few years on teams that has had a severe dearth of talent upfront. That was expected to continue until offseason pickup James Neal revitalized himself in the early part of this season after the nightmare year he had in 2019 with the Other Alberta Team. Neal has been off to a torrid start with 11 goals, including a four goal scoring binge against the Islanders. He and the other three top forwards have combined to form an absolutely lethal powerplay, the team currently ranks second in the league at 28% with the man advantage. The Oilers only trail the similarly stacked-at-the-top Bruins in this department. There’s no reason to think this unit will trail off anytime soon; Edmonton had the 9th ranked power play last season without Neal and, to this point, Neal has shown he’s back to his old ways as a prolific goal scorer. 

The dangerous power play appears to be sustainable but what about the team at even strength? That’s a good question because what they’ve done so far probably won’t hold up during the rigors of the NHL regular season. Draisatil and McDavid are currently first and second in the league, respectively, in ice time among forwards. Dave Tippett obviously does not have a lot of faith in his roster as a whole.They’re off to a good start, yes, but Jujar Khaira and Alex Chiasson haven’t become gamebreaking forwards all of a sudden. Instead, the Oilers have been rolling because they have very high end talent at the top and there is nary a time when their top forwards aren’t on the ice. 

That’s working for right now but fatigue is going to kick in at some point during the season. Luckily, Dave Tippett is a very savvy coach and his squad’s center depth affords him some deployment options. Right now, Drasaitl and McDavid are cooking together playing mainly with Zack Kassian. An alternative to keep everyone fresh could be to roll McDavid, Drasaitl and RGH, in that order, up the middle. This obviously creates a situation where James Neal is the only truly reliable winger, but he could shift between lines, perhaps even mid-game. McDavid and Drasiatl playing 500 minutes per game together will be this team’s bread and butter, but using their obscene center depth to get creative with lineups could mix things up enough to keep their top players fresh. 

Defensively, the Oilers are okay right now and actually poised to get better. Ethan Bear and Darnell Nurse have been a decent tandem at the top, and Oscar Klefbom has been solid (if unspectacular) while getting a ton of minutes on the second pair. When Adam Larsson returns, they’ll have a top-4 that isn’t elite by any standards but certainly good enough to keep them in games. Behind the defense is a goaltender duo that mirrors the good-but-not-great style of the blueline. Mikko Koskinen and Mike Smith on their own are low end starters or high end backups. They’ve both shown that, in small bursts, they can be high quality players (particularly Smith who has enjoyed his most career success playing for Tippett). Smith has sported a .931 save percentage while Koskinen has boasted a .922. Both netminders have shown they can perform at these levels consistently when they aren’t called upon to do it for 65 games. They’re presence together will preclude that.

While i think the Oilers have enough going for them to stay in the playoff hunt, their situation is certainly tenuous. A major injury will expose their lack of depth and it’s hard to trust Koskinen and Smith. However, they have some of the most gifted players in the sport leading the charge and that’s enough as long as they are merely competent everywhere else. Their piecemeal defense/goaltending have the making of units that can hold up just enough to let the explosive offense carry them into April.