ARLINGTON, V.A. — Tom Wilson can't imagine taking the ice without Pierre-Luc Dubois now. But before Dubois' arrival in the District, Wilson dreaded being on the same sheet as him, because once he lined up agianst him, he knew he was in for a long night.
"He was kind of a pain in my ass back in the day," Wilson laughed.
Dubois can make things happen offensively and has thrived with the Capitals as the second-line center, putting up 53 points in 62 games, but it's defensive play that has spoken volumes for the team this season.
The 26-year-old has constantly been pitted against opponents' top lines and tasked with shutting down top talents over the course of this season, and he's taken that opportunity and run with it as he's held his own against Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon and more at 5-on-5.
It's nothing new for Dubois, who started playing top lines back in his days with the Columbus Blue Jackets under John Tortorella, and he credits Artemi Panarin for a lot of his growth in that department.
"I played with Panarin and Atkinson or Panarin and Anderson, and Panarin didn't want to play defense, he wanted to play offense," Dubois laughed. "We were playing against top lines, and his mindset was keep the puck and make plays and we don't have to defend."
Years later, he's thriving in the defensive role with D.C. and is on pace to set a new career-high in points while being among the team's leaders in Corsi-for percentage (52.51), goals-for percentage (62.79) and scoring-chances for percentage (55.69).
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Talking to his teammates, several think that Dubois flies under the radar when it comes to his two-way play.
"He definitely doesn't get enough credit for his defensive game," Wilson added. "I think he's probably one of the best two-way centers in the NHL right now."
But what makes Dubois such a force to be reckoned with?
First is the way he plays the game and uses his size to his advantage. The 6-foot-4 center is a work horse and has thrived when it comes to being hard on pucks. He's not afraid to get physical, battles relentlessly for the puck and works to control play and maintain possession.
"I noticed a lot playing with him and watching his game a lot, he's so strong on pucks, he's really hard to play against. He was kind of a pain in my ass back in the day. So now I know how it feels for the top team's players who have to go up against him every night," Wilson said. "He skates well, he's extremely strong on pucks. When he has it it's really hard to get it back from him."
Then there's his hockey IQ. Dubois takes a lot of pride in the way he thinks the game, and says that has helped him thrive in a defensive role.
"The number one thing is being smart... Winning battles, physically is obviously (important); you have to be strong and bating a guy and all that kind of stuff. I think the toughest guys to play against are the guys that are big strong skate and smart, so that's what I'm trying to do," Dubois said.
"Everybody has some kind of tool and you just got to find what you can and expedite it... when you're a bigger guy like (me), just having that awareness of where everybody is on the ice and not panicking, you should be okay."
Ultimately, his main philosophy is that, if he has the puck, he doesn't have to worry about shutting down other team's top players, and that's contributed to his succes in the District.
"Having a good stick is the big thing, winning one-on-one battles, stuff like that, but if you have the puck the whole game, offensive players, they get frustrated they don't get the puck. It's not a secret," Dubois said. "Offensive guys want to score and they want to produce offensively. When they go the period without touching the puck much or they go the period without getting anything, and maybe in the second, they start forcing plays that you can take advantage of."
Looking at his game, coach Spencer Carbery agreed with Wilson that Dubois is underrated when it comes to his defensive skill-set, and said that he's on his way to being considered among the NHL's best.
"He's got a lot of similarities when I look at him, like an (Aleksander) Barkov... over the next few years, he'll be in that Selke conversation," Carbery said.
As for Dubois, he laughed when asked if he didn't get enough credit for his defensive play, and instead, prioritized the team over individual accolades.
"There's a lot of hockey games that are played and nobody can ever watch every game, sometimes people watch highlights or boxscores and that's fine," Dubois said, adding, "To me, it doesn't really matter. I have one goal and it's to win a Stanley Cup. Everything after that doesn't really matter to me."