What a difference a day can make. In connection Pierre-Luc DuboisBenching against Tampa Bay on Thursday, where he saw a career-low 3:55 of Ice Age post, it looked like trade was starting to pick up around downtown Columbus. Now it looks like he could get his trade request in the very near future. TSN’s Darren Dreger reports (Twitter link) that the Blue Jackets are approaching a Dubois trade, with teams being notified that they are no longer being considered. He adds Winnipeg as one of the teams still in the mix.
To this end, The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline adds (via Twitter) that Columbus plans to make Dubois a healthy scratch for Saturday’s rematch against the Lightning if he’s still on the roster by then.
The situation is currently known. While the two sides were able to reach it just before training camp on a two-year $ 10 million bridge deal, Dubois’s request to be heard was not withdrawn. While he claimed he would continue to play hard pending a resolution, that hasn’t happened yet, leading to what has become a very public benching.
The Jets have a few players who are believed to want to play in wingers too Patrik Laine and RFA Jack Roslovic; Pierre LeBrun from TSN and The Athletic suggests (Twitter link) that both players could make sense as involved in the deal if they eventually become the ultimate destination. A return involving those players would certainly allow Columbus to make a substantial return, although it would create a significant hole in the middle, a position in which they are already weak. Meanwhile, Winnipeg would lose some firepower on the wing, but would get a controllable second center to leave behind Mark Scheifele for the foreseeable future.
In a sequel tweetLeBrun adds that the ducks also remain interested in Dubois. They’ve been interested since this whole process started and would certainly give them a much needed boost in the middle. They currently have a little over $ 6M in LTIR space, per CapFriendly, but that amount will be reduced by $ 800K one time Brendan Guhle returns. That still leaves enough room to absorb Dubois, but hardly. That said, they are not a good fit for providing instant value in a trade, although their prospect pool has several high-quality prospects including center Trevor Zegras and defender Jamie Drysdale.
In his report, Dreger notes that this is a complicated process that can mean several things. Depending on who is involved there may be salary caps, although a deal with Laine and Dubois is something both teams can afford. However, if no center comes their way, it is possible that another move will have to be agreed upon to give them one. And of course there are quarantine issues to deal with and to plan, as there are different rules in different jurisdictions. Dreger suggests these could be resolved as soon as Saturday, so Dubois’ bad performance last night could be the trigger that ultimately completes a transaction.