11/09/25: The Washington Capitals announced today that Dubois underwent surgery on Friday in order “to address injuries to his abdominal and adductor muscles.” The Capitals added that Dubois is “expected to miss 3-4 months” as he recovers.
While it had been announced previously that Dubois would miss an “extended period” due to the injury, today’s announcement provides clarity on the nature of Dubois’ injury and a timeline for his return.
Dubois is a key contributor in Washington, and losing him for such a significant amount of time will likely damage the Capitals’ efforts to push for a playoff spot in a competitive, deep Eastern Conference. In four games since Dubois’ injury, the Capitals have gone 1-2-1.
In Dubois’ absence, Washington has shifted McMichael back to center and had him take Dubois’ spot as the team’s second-line pivot. After breaking out last season and scoring 26 goals and 57 points, McMichael is down to just four points through 15 games this year, and just one point since moving to the 2C role.
The other two centers playing behind first-liner Dylan Strome in Washington’s lineup, Hendrix Lapierre and Nic Dowd, have a combined six points this season.
If the Capitals’ centers behind Strome continue to struggle to produce offensively, Dubois’ injury could place Washington firmly in the market for an external center addition. The list of teams looking to acquire a capable NHL center is far more crowded than the list of teams with a quality NHL pivot they’re willing to trade, and this injury to Dubois may only further complicate that trade market.
11/03/25:The Washington Capitals have received bad news on center Pierre-Luc Dubois’ lower-body injury. He will be out for an “extended period”, head coach Spencer Carbery told The Washington Post’s Bailey Johnson. The Capitals are continuing to evaluate the injury and aren’t yet sure if Dubois will need surgery, per Johnson.
Dubois’ knee buckled on a defensive-zone faceoff in Friday night’s loss to the New York Islanders. He needed assistance getting off the ice. No specifics have been revealed about Dubois’ injury, though Carbery did note that it is unrelated to the lower-body injury that forced Dubois out of five games earlier in the season. The 27-year-old was making his return from that prior injury on Friday, but only managed six minutes back in the lineup before going down again.
Dubois has only been in the lineup for five full games this season. He is still searching for his first point of the season, currently sitting with just nine shots on goal and six hits to his name. Dubois was a core piece of Washington’s offense last season. He reached 20 goals and 66 points while filling the second-line center role for all 82 games. That scoring tied Dubois with Aliaksei Protas for third on the team in scoring, though Protas managed 30 goals and only played 76 games. Dubois centered Connor McMichael and Tom Wilson, who both posted career-highs in scoring.
Last season marked a phenomenal start to Dubois’ time in Washington. He finished the year with a plus-27, an incredible surge after recording a negative plus-minus in four of the prior five seasons. He had previously reached solid scoring marks, though, achieving four 20-goal seasons and three 60-point seasons prior to 2024-25. Those performances spanned a tenure with the Columbus Blue Jackets and Winnipeg Jets, though Dubois has seemed to find his firmest roots in the Capitals organization. He’s a pillar of the offense when healthy, and should return to a top-six role on the other side of this indefinite injury.