When the news broke before the start of the season that center Pierre-Luc Dubois wanted to be from Columbus, the Blue Jackets presented themselves as disappointed but undefeated and insisted that they handle it the same way they did in 2018. -’19 did business when the whole world knew Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky were planning to leave.
It did not work that way. The Blue Jackets have scored just one win through five games, a difficult start exacerbated by the short season and with every game within the division. Dubois himself has just one point in five games, and that’s hardly the worst of it. He is visibly disconnected on the ice, with head coach John Tortorella reaching his boiling point after this faint shift on Thursday. Dubois did not see ice for the rest of the night.
Bigger implications aside, Tortorella was ready to place Dubois. It’s an objectively heinous ‘attempt’ and it’s not even about liability or setting an example. Tortorella had to set up a series that would optimize his team’s chances of winning the game, and he could no longer risk damaging shifts from a center.
Nor is it to celebrate Dubois’ apathy on the ice or even necessarily approve. Regardless of what goes on between him and management, his poor performances have collateral damage. It hurts his teammates and it’s a shame for fans.
Dubois’ handling of the situation is cynical and unworthy. It is also the only way he can influence his own destiny.
Teams unilaterally pull players up as 17- or 18-year-olds and then have more or less total control over the player for the next eight years until they become unlimited free agents. Dubois, 22 years old, is one of the most capable and popular players in the world. But when he was out of contract this summer, he had little influence in negotiations with the Blue Jackets, let alone looking for other opportunities.
Columbus would have had a chance to adjust any contract Dubois signed with another team and ink him under the exact terms. If they had refused to pass and let him leave, the signing team would have owed compensation for draft picks. By leaving Columbus, another team would have to offer him a contract, which he believed he and the draft loss were worth, but also high enough that Columbus would not agree to it. This is a difficult needle to thread. Only two flyers have been signed in the past decade, and both are linked by the team that holds its rights. Dustin Penner’s departure from Anaheim to Edmonton in 2007 is the only time in the era of the salary cap that a player has changed teams via the offer sheet. The difficult logistics mean that teams rarely make an effort.
Dubois also had no arbitration rights, meaning he was considered after everything Columbus was willing to offer him. His only leverage was to refuse to sign a deal, not make himself available for the start of the season and demand a trade. It certainly would not have been ideal for Columbus, he would be out of sight and they still have one-sided leverage over the situation. They still had his rights until 2024 and they could wait as long as they wanted to move him. When would it be? Columbus’ general manager, Jarmo Kekäläinen, would apparently be more than happy to take his time.
Dubois therefore followed the path of least resistance, namely signing a two-year contract, showing up for the season and forcing the problem through disorder. He was an obligation on the ice to the point that his head coach had to bench him. Tortorella and other players are being forced to answer almost daily questions about the situation at the moment. Local and national media attention has been focused on the organization for all the wrong reasons. It’s become a distraction, and it’s Aaron Portzline of The Athletic considered now “Unbearable.” The longer it lasts, the bigger problem it will become.
The situation is ugly, but it’s not Dubois’ fault. If you’re a Columbus fan or teammate who’s upset about how it’s unfolding, blame it on a system that gave Dubois little room to make his own decisions.
That a player like Dubois has so little leverage for the most valuable part of his hockey career is a deliberate design by hockey owners to keep salaries and reduce competition. Also owes to some extent the players union that the CBA willingly signed. A two-year, $ 10 million contract would not even come to cut Dubois into a real real free market. The mechanisms that are there to artificially and severely limit the player’s leverage are what allow Columbus to draw him below his true value.
No one asks you to feel bad for Dubois. If his biggest complaint is that he pays a salary of $ 10 million to eat, travel and sleep in first-class housing and practice a sport, then he is happier than 99 percent of the world’s population under normal circumstances, which let alone a pandemic-induced recession.
One can still realize that Dubois’ struggle is still beneficial to a larger cause. Putting working classes against each other is a useful tool for the uberryies, and although millionaire hockey players are not exactly coal miners from the 1900s, dropping all numbers is a drop. The league’s top players are the anchor point with which all players are compared below. If a player like Dubois is successfully accused of accepting in whatever circumstances he was forced, what chance is there for fewer players – even if they are minor players – to stick their necks out to negotiate their value and a exercise some control over their careers? It only benefits the league ownership.
Say what you will about Dubois’ actions, but it worked. The Blue Jackets, who were ready to spend their time days in search of the exact match they wanted, quickly reconsidered and appears on the verge of granting Dubois his trade request. NHL owners have fought tooth and nail for a system that gives players like Dubois a bit of agency and dares them to break from a hockey culture that stigmatizes to become a problem and represents the needs of the team. Dubois calls them bluff. If they do not like it, NHL franchises are free to weaken control over young players and provide more conventional means to determine the terms of their service.