Pierre-Luc Dubois explains what went wrong in Los Angeles after just one disappointing season
Photo credit: ESPN
Pierre-Luc Dubois is one of the NHL's most polarizing players, and after failing on his third team, he has revealed what went wrong during his one season in LA.
The NHL saw many disappointing performances a year ago, but after forcing his way out of Winnipeg following the same thing in Columbus, there were perhaps none more so than Pierre-Luc Dubois in Los Angeles. After the Kings gave away a haul for PLD and signed him to a long-term deal, expectations were high, but ultimately he couldn't even come close to living up to them, tallying just 16 goals and 40 points despite playing in all 82 games.
Now, in an interview translated from French, the 26-year old forward opened up on the reason he struggled so much with the Kings this season.
"Take it as you will but, I've always needed clear direction to be able to work at 100%.
I get confused when there are grey areas. I ask myself too many questions. It's something I've been working on since I was young. And, from my very first conversations with the team, I didn't really know what was expected of me. I didn't know where I fit in. You can't play well when you're asking yourself too many questions.
We didn't talk very often," said Dubois of Kings head coach Todd McLellan. "Todd is more of a team tactician. Maybe we didn't have that kind of relationship. Maybe it was me that was too demanding, wanting the path forward explained to me. It is obviously my fault that it didn't work.
I tried to live up to the challenge, but I was stuck in a gray area the whole year. I didn't feel at home. My teammates helped and I wanted to break through, but it just wasn't working."
I get confused when there are grey areas. I ask myself too many questions. It's something I've been working on since I was young. And, from my very first conversations with the team, I didn't really know what was expected of me. I didn't know where I fit in. You can't play well when you're asking yourself too many questions.
We didn't talk very often," said Dubois of Kings head coach Todd McLellan. "Todd is more of a team tactician. Maybe we didn't have that kind of relationship. Maybe it was me that was too demanding, wanting the path forward explained to me. It is obviously my fault that it didn't work.
I tried to live up to the challenge, but I was stuck in a gray area the whole year. I didn't feel at home. My teammates helped and I wanted to break through, but it just wasn't working."
While there may be something to his comments, at this point it looks to be just excuses from the talented forward, as his attitude issues that many found in LA continues to be a common theme throughout his tenure in the NHL thus far. Even GM Rob Blake new he needed to take different approaches to getting him going, with this recent story from 32 Thoughts showing just how different the team got to try and get him comfortable.
Ultimately, it's been not once, not twice but three times that Dubois has failed on a team and then been traded, so it has long been a common theme, but now in Washington, he'll try to make things work once more as he looks to find his role in the NHL.
| POLL | ||
9 SEPTEMBRE | 86 ANSWERS Pierre-Luc Dubois explains what went wrong in Los Angeles after just one disappointing season Will Pierre-Luc Dubois hit over 80 points in season one with the Washington Capitals? | ||
| Yes | 6 | 7 % |
| No | 80 | 93 % |
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