{"id":897353,"date":"2026-10-28T09:08:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T09:08:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/897353\/"},"modified":"2026-10-28T09:08:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T09:08:15","slug":"spencer-carbery-recalls-watching-pierre-luc-dubois-torment-auston-matthews-before-trade-to-washington-calls-him-a-huge-part-of-capitals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/897353\/","title":{"rendered":"Spencer Carbery recalls watching Pierre-Luc Dubois torment Auston Matthews before trade to Washington, calls him a \u2018huge part\u2019 of Capitals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pierre-Luc Dubois<\/a> has spent much of the last year out of the lineup, losing most of the 2025-26 season to injury and missing five of the last 10 games while out sick. But when he\u2019s healthy enough to play, he\u2019s been one of Washington\u2019s top skaters.<\/p>\n

Not only has Dubois found offensive success, tallying 89 points (26g, 36a) in 116 games for the Capitals, but he\u2019s emerged as a key two-way player capable of shutting down other team\u2019s stars.<\/p>\n

Asked about Dubois\u2019 importance to the team, head coach Spencer Carbery joked that he was nearly afraid of jinxing him through compliments.<\/p>\n

\u201cI almost feel like I go into this too much because it\u2019s almost, like, bad,\u201d he quipped, knocking on the podium for luck. \u201cHe\u2019s just okay. If he\u2019s in the lineup, great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sarcasm aside, Carbery went on to highlight Dubois\u2019 role.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s just a big part of our team,\u201d he said. \u201cCenter ice position, matchups, big body, plays in a lot of different situations and a lot of difficult minutes, so he\u2019s a huge part.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dubois has become the Capitals\u2019 go-to center at even strength for defending against star players, and he quickly slotted back into that role when returning from illness against the Buffalo Sabres<\/a> on Saturday. Of the 14:31 Dubois played at five-on-five against Buffalo, 8:31 came against high-scoring winger Tage Thompson<\/a>, who tallied 9 points (5g, 4a) in his first 10 games of the season. During those minutes against Dubois, Thompson went pointless, and the Capitals out-chanced the Sabres 3-1.<\/p>\n

Through the season as a whole, the Capitals have recorded 58.52% of expected goals with Dubois on the ice at five-on-five: though they\u2019ve been out-chanced 35-34, they hold a 16-13 advantage in high-danger chances and have outscored opponents 5-1.<\/p>\n

Dubois spent most of the 2025-26 season sidelined, undergoing abdominal and adductor surgery in November<\/a> before returning in early February<\/a>, ending the season with 19 points (5g, 14a) in 29 total games. That lengthy absence arguably cost the Capitals their postseason \u2014 they finished just four points behind the Ottawa Senators<\/a> for the second wild-card spot in the East. While having him healthy may be less flashy than some of the Washington\u2019s offseason acquisitions, the team hopes his presence will positively impact their season trajectory.<\/p>\n

Carbery had a front-row seat to Dubois\u2019 shutdown talent long before he came to DC. Carbery recalled watching Dubois play on December 5, 2021<\/a>, when he was assistant coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> and Dubois was with the Winnipeg Jets<\/a>. The Jets trounced the Leafs 6-3 in that game, thanks in no small part to Dubois\u2019 ability to hold Auston Matthews<\/a> at bay. Matthews was the first selection at the 2016 NHL Draft, while Dubois went third overall.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was in Toronto, I remember playing in Winnipeg. And him and Matthews would go at it,\u201d Carbery recounted. \u201c He would be all over Auston. And they\u2019d be in a scrum, off of face-offs. And I\u2019m like, \u2018Damn, this guy plays Auston hard.\u2019 Because Auston would never usually get into it with guys and that. And [Dubois] had Auston in a bit of a \u2014 he was not happy that night. And to his credit, they beat us pretty good. And it was neutralized. I saw it firsthand in that experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tensions boiled over in that game, with Dubois and Matthews eventually getting into a wrestling match in the third period.<\/p>\n

Dubois has come into his own in Washington, but the Capitals saw his defensive potential before they acquired him from the LA Kings in 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did a lot of homework on Pierre-Luc, and we were comfortable,\u201d Carbery said of the Capitals\u2019 pre-trade research process. \u201cWe knew that he thrived in those types of minutes. And his underlying numbers and film in those types of minutes were very, very positive. So I think we knew that that was something that he had done well. Now you never truly know until he gets here. But we were comfortable and heard a lot of \u2014 yeah, we just did a lot of homework.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it\u2019s turned out and it\u2019s been a great fit for him and for us as a team\u2026we were looking for a top-line center. Obviously we had Stromer (Dylan Strome), but also someone that could play a little bit of a different role than Stromer plays. He\u2019s done a great job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Off the ice, Dubois also serves as a valuable member of Washington\u2019s locker room, particularly as a mentor to young players. He\u2019s become a frequent host to Capitals rookies as they adjust to the NHL, welcoming Ryan Leonard<\/a>, Cole Hutson<\/a>, and Lynden Lakovic. Not only does that give young players a less lonely place to live, but Dubois has also provided plenty of life and culinary advice, including introducing Lakovic<\/a> to several common vegetables.<\/p>\n

With Dubois now in his third season with the Capitals, Carbery highlighted his integration into both the organization and the area as a whole.<\/p>\n

\u201c(He\u2019s) just someone that\u2019s much more comfortable in our locker room, in the community,\u201d Carbery said. \u201cHe lived here basically all summer. He came back extremely early, skating. So you can tell that DC is home for him and this organization and community is home for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo he\u2019s really embraced that and knowing that he\u2019s going to be a big part of our future here and hopefully one day win a Stanley Cup. And him being such an important centerman and just overall player in that coming to fruition. Yeah, he\u2019s all in.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pierre-Luc Dubois has spent much of the last year out of the lineup, losing most of the 2025-26…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":897354,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-897353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=897353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897353\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/897354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=897353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=897353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=897353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}