Canadiens have added leverage to force a Pierre-Luc Dubois trade!

For months and months now, plenty of rumours have pointed to Winnipeg Jets’ Pierre-Luc Dubois eventually joining the Montreal Canadiens. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman recently confirmed that the Habs and Jets have spoken during the season regarding a potential trade in the summer, and Dubois has hinted at his desire to play in Montreal more than once in the past, giving the Habs significant leverage.

Now the time is ideal for the Canadiens to put the ultimate plan in motion to force a trade with the Jets to acquire Dubois as Montreal holds added layer of leverage thanks to the offer sheet trap.

As Montreal Hockey Now points out Dubois is scheduled become a restricted free agent for the last time in his career in July. You know where this is going right? If Dubois remains unsigned after July 1st, the Canadiens would have a four-day window to submit an offer sheet to Dubois. Seeing that Dubois will become an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2024, this means he only has one more season to complete in order to attain full autonomy. This is where the Canadiens have the upper hand:

“The Canadiens could thus present Dubois would a one-year, $6.4M offer sheet between July 1 and 5th and it could quite literally put the Jets in a bind.

If the Jets were to match the offer sheet, they would enter into a binding contract with Dubois for the upcoming season, but there’s a catch.

The NHL CBAalso stipulates that they would also be unable to trade Dubois for a full calendar year; meaning that they would essentially lose Dubois for nothing as he walks into free agency on July 1, 2024.

If the Jets chose not to match it and take the compensation, all the Canadiens would have to give up is their 2024 1st-round and 3rd-round picks.

They would then be able to talk long-term extension with Dubois as of January 1, 2024.”

This is a significant ace up Canadiens GM Kent Hughes’ sleeve as he will look to settle a deal with the Jets for Dubois, who will not stay in Winnipeg.

Hughes is likely to use this added leverage to finally convince Jets general manager Kevyn Cheveldayoff to pull the trigger on a trade. Hughes could dangle the 2023 first-round pick he acquired from the Florida Panthers or draw from his deep pool of promising young players to make an offer the Jets won’t be able to refuse.

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