Pierre-Luc Dubois

Last Season

Five goals and 14 assists in 29 games — 19 points, minus-four, at 16:49 a night with three power-play goals. Fifty-three games missed.

His 627th career game and his 427th point.

The Finesse Game

Sixty-five unblocked attempts, five goals, median 23 feet with 48 per cent from inside twenty. Good ice, small sample.

Fourteen assists in 29 games is a genuine second-line playmaking rate and the most encouraging line here. Two hundred and fifty-seven career assists.

The Physical Game

Six foot four and 220 pounds, and he protects the puck below the goal line as well as any centre on the club. Nineteen penalty minutes.

The compete has been questioned at three of his four stops, which is a long enough pattern to note. The size and the hands have never been in doubt.

The Intangibles

Fifty-two point six per cent of the expected goals, 75th percentile, against only 47.4 per cent of the shot attempts, 29th, across 393 minutes — a five-point gap in a small sample, and the second-best chance share on the club.

Ten points in his last ten.

He is 28, the third pick in 2016, and fifty-three games missed. When he plays he is a genuine second-line centre; the argument about him has never been about ability.