Winnipeg Jets complete Pierre-Luc Dubois trade with Los Angeles Kings – Winnipeg

In a move that was expected for over a year, the Winnipeg Jets have finally parted ways with center Pierre-Luc Dubois.

The Jets were able to complete a signing (eight years/$US68M) and trade with the Los Angeles Kings for the 25-year-old pivot, in exchange for which Winnipeg would receive forwards Gabriel Vilardi, Alex Ifolo and Rasmus Kupari. With a second round pick in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft.

Vilardi, a 23-year-old right wing/center, scored a career-high 23 goals in 63 games for LA during the 2022-23 season and added 18 assists for 41 points. The six-foot-three-inch, 215-pound native of Kingston, Ontario, was selected 11th overall by the Kings in 2017. Vilardi is a pending restricted free agent.

The twenty-nine-year-old Ifolo scored 14 goals and 22 assists for 36 points in 59 games in his sixth season with Los Angeles. The six-foot-tall, 200-pound left winger was a teammate of Jets defenseman Neil Pionek at the University of Minnesota-Duluth from 2015-17. Ifolo is under contract for the next two seasons at an AAV of $US 4M.

Kupari, a 23-year-old, six-foot-2-inch, 200-pound right shot center, went 3-12-15 in 66 games with Los Angeles last season. The Kings’ first round pick (20th overall) in 2018 is also a pending restricted free agent.

Dubois recorded career highs in assists (36) and points (63) last season with the Jets, while scoring 27 times to come within goal for a career-best performance in that category.

In 195 games with Winnipeg, Dubois’ totals were 63–80–143 with 219 PIMs.

Winnipeg acquired Dubois and a third-round pick in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft from Columbus on January 23, 2021, in exchange for forwards Patrick Laine and Jack Roslovic. Under the terms of the deal, the Jets also kept 26 percent of Line’s salary.

Despite continued efforts by Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldoff to sign Dubois to a long-term deal, the six-foot-2-inch, 205-pound pivot remained very non-committal throughout his time in Winnipeg. Whenever he was questioned about his hockey future, Dubois gave answers that were vague – leading to speculation that he would re-sign with the Jets once he was no longer contractually bound to the team. will not do.

The story heated up in the first week of July leading up to the 2022 NHL Entry Draft in Montreal, when Dubois’ agent, Patrick Brisson, was quoted as saying that his client would like to play for his hometown Canadiens one day.

Rumors of a possible trade of Dubois with Montreal peaked during the draft at the Bell Centre, but the transaction never materialized and Dubois signed a one-year deal with the Jets for $US6M to stay in Winnipeg for 2022. Agreed to accept the qualifying offer. 23 Seasons.

Brisson reportedly told Jets management in the summer of 2022, with the Dubois camp intending to test the free agent market on July 1, 2024. Despite being repeatedly asked about that decision, Dubois neither confirmed nor denied that these were his plans for the future – saying his focus was only on the coming season.

Then this off-season it was reported that Brisson informed Cheveldoff during the June 4–10 scouting combine in Buffalo that Dubois was not going to sign a one-year deal to take him into unrestricted free agency and that he Presented a list of teams. The jets GM said their client would be willing to negotiate a long-term contract, clearing the way for a “sign and trade” transaction.

Dubois was the third overall choice in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft by Columbus, behind Auston Matthews (Toronto) and Laine (Winnipeg). During the first three years of his NHL career with the Blue Jackets, Dubois scored 65 goals and added 93 assists for 168 points in 234 games.

But in his fourth season, news of Dubois’ rift with then-Columbus head coach John Tortorella eventually resulted in him being asked to be traded – which paved the way for Dubois to become the Winnipeg Jets.

2:55
John Shannon on the future of the Winnipeg Jets after first round loss

&copy 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.