The Washington Capitals announced today that forward Pierre-Luc Dubois has been activated off injured reserve and will play tonight.
Dubois has not played since October and has been recovering from abdominal surgery that he underwent in early November. Dubois told The Hockey News’ Sammi Silber that he wasn’t able to skate at full speed earlier in the season and could feel the lingering effects of the injury before undergoing surgery in the aftermath of a collision with New York Islanders forward J.G. Pageau.
In hindsight, it’s not a huge surprise to hear from Dubois that he was not fully healthy to start the year. He missed some time before landing on IR, and failed to register a point in his six NHL games. After scoring 66 points in his debut season with the Capitals, it didn’t take much to observe that something was out of order for Dubois earlier in the season.
While Dubois’ return comes just before the Olympic break, meaning he’ll have to wait to get into the rhythm of playing regularly again, his activation comes at a crucial juncture of the season for the Capitals.
The team is currently on the outside of the Eastern Conference’s playoff picture, sitting six points behind the Boston Bruins for the final Wild Card spot and four points behind the Islanders for third place in the Metropolitan Division.
Getting Dubois back should be a significant boost to the Capitals’ hopes of rallying and making a push for a playoff spot. Even if it takes him some time to get back up to speed, he should immediately upgrade the Capitals’ standing at the all-important center position.
While Justin Sourdif has been something of a revelation in his first full campaign in the NHL (he has 12 goals, 26 points in 54 games) he’s not at the point in his career where he’s a true top-six center. Dubois is, and his return to the Capitals lineup should create a ripple effect that allows a player like Sourdif to occupy a more appropriate spot in the lineup.
Dubois’ return to the lineup is no guarantee Washington will be able to return to the playoffs. But given how good he was for the team last season, it will certainly help.
Photos courtesy of Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
Which version of DuBois is being activated? The one who seems disinterested, Or the one that shows up sometimes?
Good f’ing luck. – All the other fans that have believed in him at one point.
It wasn’t a “collision” with Pageau. It was repeated crosschecks while down in a vulnerable position on the draw. Cheap shot.
Here come all the know-nothing PLD takes. He’s bad because he’s big, but doesn’t hit much! He’s bad because he’s fast, but doesn’t skate hard!
He uses his stick exquisitely to separate opponents from the puck. His first steps are so smooth and his stride so long, he looks like he’s not skating “hard” because he’s already at top speed. He was 5th in the league last year at HD% against elite comp and is the near-ideal 2C on a championship team.
Dylan Strome just ain’t an ideal 1C on a championship team. Even with Ovi (who’s still an xG monster). That team needed Panarin baaad for 1RW.
This season’s Caps are incredibly inconsistent. I have seen them play maybe 3 or 4 games when they were absolutely dominant, better than any game last season. But far too many when they look absolutely lost, scramble in the defensive zone, can’t get a pass to mount a rush, can’t sustain pressure. The only thing that’s been good to great in almost every game is goaltending.
This is especially jarring having grown as a Caps’ fan in the late 80s/90s. Every year they were guaranteed to start slow, play really good defensive hockey the 2nd half of the season to grab a 5-8 seed/#3 or 4 div seed, go up 3 games to 1 on the Penguins and lose the series.
PLD coming back helps (agree on sorengo99’s points) but it isn’t enough to get this team back. They could miss the playoffs by 15 points or get in and somehow make the 2nd round, but I’m not expecting much.
This is his first game back from a bad injury AND the last Caps game for 3 weeks because of the Olympics. Why not rest him until the next game on Feb 25?
Maybe it gives him or the team an idea of where he’s at now? It would help PLD determine how far he needs to train to get back up to speed, and it would help management determine whether to go for a playoff spot or not.
And if he doesn’t feel right for this 1 game, they can just bench him. They’re almost benching Lapierre and Milano in every game already, so what’s one more.