Major turnaround: Kent Hughes would reportedly be willing to offer over $70 million to Pierre-Luc Dubois

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Elias Edmonson
June 8, 2023 (7:24 PM)

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For several hours and more than ever, the name of the forward Pierre-Luc Dubois is circulating a lot in the Montreal Canadiens and in trade rumors all over the NHL.

A trade is imminent. It will be done within about twenty days according to a source, and we have just learned that the Jets are going to conclude a 'sign and trade immediately' type of trade.

In essence, Dubois will negotiate his new contract with his new team (the one where he will be traded in a few days), he will sign his contract with the Winnipeg Jets so that it can be an 8-year contract, and he will be immediately traded afterwards.

We learned this thanks to the brilliant work of journalists Marc Antoine Godin and Arpon Basu, from The Athletic.

There's more.

Dubois would be asking for 9 million dollars per year

According to these reporters, we can expect Dubois to seek to sign a contract for over 9 million dollars per season.

This is what they learned and it makes sense with comparables like Mathew Barzal and Roope Hintz.

In light of these revelations, several fans thought this:

If Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton are not interested in paying a player more than Suzuki, as they publicly said recently, and Dubois will command 9 million dollars or more, doesn't this essentially crush the possibility of seeing him in Montreal?

To which Basu replied this.

There's a misunderstanding here and Kent Hughes clarified it today. Setting Suzuki as the ceiling for Caufield was because they were coming out of an entry contract. (a rookie contract) Similar circumstances. This would not necessarily apply to a UFA or, in this case, someone a year from the UFA (like Dubois). Very different.

In essence, we understand that Hughes would be willing to offer 9 million dollars (over 8 years) and more, per season, to a player like Dubois. We are talking about a total of 72 million dollars and more.