Report: Habs have made an offer to acquire Dubois

On Thursday, former Sportsnet NHL insider Nick Kypreos dropped a bomb, reporting that disgruntled Columbus Blue Jackets star Pierre-Luc Dubois’ preferred destination via trade is his childhood team the Montreal Canadiens. He added that the Blue Jackets and Canadiens have indeed had discussions involving Dubois but that the Blue Jackets are insistent on receiving youngsters Nick Suzuki and Alexander Romanov in any deal involving Dubois.

This was a tough pill to swallow for Habs’ fans, though they remained skeptical that Kypreos had the right information on the potential deal. 

However on Friday, another reporter, this time one closely linked to the Jackets, Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch, mentioned that the Habs had made an offer for Dubois, offering forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi, defenseman Victor Mete as well as another element, potentially a draft pick, to Columbus. 

Clearly the Habs are not willing to lose Suzuki and made this counter offer to GM Jarmo Keklainen. 

Dubois would absolutely transform the Canadiens’ offence, but at what cost to the future? Clearly, Suzuki is not getting shipped out to Columbus. Habs GM Marc Bergevin has made it known that he’s a big game hunter and would love to add a top line center. I mean, just look at his contract offer to Sebastian Aho just a year ago. And in Dubois there’s a top line center out there just waiting to be traded for.

Now we are wondering how interested Keklainen is, if this offer is really on his table. Kekalainen has proven in the past that he’s willing to wait players out if the right deal doesn’t come along. In 2019, star players Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky both left Columbus in free agency after previously indicating they wouldn’t re-sign with the club. 

Dubois put up 18 goals and 49 points in 70 games for Columbus last season and an additional 10 points in 10 playoff games. Suffice it to say that if Dubois is really hitting the trade market, we’re not surprised there’s no shortage of interested suitors, and that Montreal is looking at ways to make this happen.