Trade involving Pierre-Luc Dubois and the Canadiens' 5th overall pick: the verdict has just been announced

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Elias Edmonson
June 24, 2023 (7:35 PM)

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In a recent article, veteran journalist Marc de Foy mentioned that the Canadiens' offers to acquire Pierre-Luc Dubois were not yet serious enough for the Jets' general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff. There's still a long way to go between the two sides to reach an agreement.

It's clear that Kent Hughes will not give up Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield in this transaction, and many assets that the Canadiens' GM would even be reluctant to offer Kirby Dach to the Jets.

So there's not much left for Hughes to convince Cheveldayoff, except perhaps the 5th overall pick in the next draft.

And even for this 5th pick, the verdict has already fallen.

We can forget a trade with the 5th pick for Dubois

According to Jean-François Chaumont, Kent Hughes will not go as far as offering this high draft pick to acquire Dubois.

Even though the Quebec native is only 24 years old, has an imposing stature with his 6 foot 2 inches and 205 pounds, is capable of having 60 point seasons, and is an excellent center, the journalist thinks that Hughes can land a more promising young player with this pick.

"With the fifth overall pick, the Canadiens will have the opportunity to draft a promising young player. Even though we can expect Nick Bobrov and Martin Lapointe to pass on Matvei Michkov, there will still be many big names at this rank. Ryan Leonard, Zach Benson, Dalibor Dvorsky, and David Reinbacher are good candidates."

"The 2023 Draft is nothing like the 2022 one. According to many scouts, the fifth prospect of this crop has the potential to become a better player in the future than Juraj Slafkovsky, last year's top student."

We must also not forget that acquiring Dubois will likely lead the Canadiens towards a financial imbalance. As reported, Dubois would demand no less than $9M per year for his next contract. This salary, as Chaumont reminds us, is nine times that of a rookie player. The Canadiens could therefore save during the contract years of this player until the cap increases slightly.

By comparison, the journalist uses the example of the trade that brought Alex DeBrincat to the Senators a year ago. To acquire him, Pierre Dorion had sent, among other things, the 7th overall pick in the last draft. If this transaction had been acclaimed by fans last summer, it is much less so now. The forward has not been able to produce up to expectations in the Canadian capital and might even leave the organization a year after arriving.

"With the addition of DeBrincat, Dorion tried to speed up the rebuilding process in Ottawa, but he did not win his bet. The small winger only scored 27 goals in the national capital. The Senators will not want to offer him a contract of more than seven million, which he will demand. By trading him in the next few days, Dorion will recover an asset with a good draft pick or prospects, but he will not find a seventh overall pick." - Jean François Chaumont

Acquiring Dubois could certainly help speed up the Canadiens' rebuilding but could also, due to his salary and market price, hurt them significantly!

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