Dubois Wants Out of Columbus - UPDATE: Traded to Winnipeg

[matchesmalone]

Torts has openly admitted PLD wants out. Most obvious destinations would seem to be Montreal and Vegas. Teams in need of top centers. Cody Glass or Jesperi Kotkaniemi would likely be the main pieces going back. Ottawa could potentially get involved, but would likely cost Josh Norris, for starters.

[Josh]

Yeah, Torts' comments on the situation surprised me, but were also kind of refreshing compared to the standard take. He played Dubois more than any other forward tonight. I wish we knew the reason why. There was the contract dispute, but it's gotta' be more than that. Torts sorts of seems to think it's him while saying he hasn't been told it's him, so who knows. Kind of disappointing because I feel like Dubois is a great fit on that team. Will be interesting to see what comes of it. Vegas landing him would be terrifying.

[matchesmalone]

So the Dubois benching tonight is the talk of the hockey world. The question now is, is this the breaking point? Do the Jackets need to trade him now, or can/will he play on Saturday?

And what will that trade look like? I mentioned kids like Glass and Kotkaniemi, but those would make the most sense in Columbus was out of the playoff picture; if they have to move him now, there's zero chance they're sending that message to the team. But then how do you make it work? Kekkalainen pulled off a thing of beauty with getting Jones for Johansen, but it kinda seems like they need a center back here. The Domi-Anderson trade has to be the model - CBJ wanted offense, Montreal wanted size and grit. I feel like Matt Barzal could make a lot of sense. Possibly Nugent-Hopkins but Edmonton would have to add at least one younger, valuable piece.

[Josh]

Traded to Winnipeg for Laine and Roslovic. The Blue Jackets also send a 2022 3rd round pick. Gotta like this deal for Columbus, but it'll be interesting to see how Laine responds to Torts.

[matchesmalone]

The play of Alex Texier so far this season made this trade possible. I assumed they would need a top center back, but Texier has been good enough for them to be confident with Domi and Tex as the top two centers. I've considered this kid one of the best prospects in the world for a couple years now, and hearing Torts consistently rave about his work ethic and energy level just solidifies my thinking. This kid will be a superstar. Soon.

And Columbus has been a team desperately in need of goal-scoring... well, they got a guy who can score goals. One player won't solve the problem, but if there was any one player even remotely available who could make a difference, well...

Kekkalainen is moving up my list of top GMs in the league. He makes hockey trades, and good ones. Josh, I know you've been critical of some of their recent drafts, and rightfully so to some extent, but yet Marchenko and Tarasov are starting to look like monster prospects, Bemstrom and Foudy are knocking on the door, Tex is about to set the world on fire (particularly if he's feeding Laine), and Chinhakov, well, I'm not sure about that one, but it's another example, like Tex or Merz, where we see Kekkalainen has his ear closer to the ground over in Europe than any other GM in the league.

I guess I'm ranting here now, but watching Torts' presser the other day where he addressed the benching, I honestly got choked up. Hearing him talk about how the team has to come first, and as long as he's around, no one player can be held above the team, no matter their contract or draft position. He knows what the media was saying: that this has happened before, with Johansen, etc. I lost a lot of respect for Craig Button after his reaction. But precisely the thing that makes it so reprehensible is that there's a sliver to truth to it that just gets viciously maligned. A lot of people had to be starting to wonder, "third overall pick, (Johansen was 4th) this is an incredibly important piece for this franchise, and Torts let it go to shit again"...

But this is the beauty of this partnership. Jarmo thinks differently, he's new school, he's on the cutting edge, but he has an old school hockey guy in Torts to take care of the locker room and on the ice, and he trusts him absolutely with the team. And together they go about things the right way. Torts doesn't allow for any player to be above the team; if a player won't buy into the team concept, no matter who it is, Jarmo isn't thinking it's Torts' failing and job on the line, but rather once all avenues are exhausted to try and resolve the issue, he's going out and making dynamite fucking trades to get the best possible return for that player.

[matchesmalone]

Well, Laine was already benched last night.

[Josh]

I thought Torts was a bit quick on the gun with the benching after Laine had just had a 2-goal game the night before, but he seems to have responded well to it. I agree with you completely - Jarmo and Torts seem to have a great thing going and I hope it continues and that the Jackets find success. I've always thought highly of Jarmo's ability, though you're right that I was unimpressed with their most recent drafts. To be fair though, I only started my current way of analyzing drafts in 2018 (so Bemstrom, Tarasov, and Tex from 2017 don't figure in) and I did say that I their 2018 draft was decent (Foudy, Marchenko, and I think we might still see something from Trey-Fix Wolansky). 2019 and 2020 were pretty dismal, though their fist pick in 2019 was in the 4th round. Mind you, that's on them for the Matt Duchene experiment and the William Karlsson Vegas thing that doesn't seem like such a great move now after all. Eric Hjorth might be something though. And the jury's still out on Chinakhov of course, but I still think they had better options available.. Barron, Gunler, Hirvonen, Lapierre, Perreault, and Zary to name a few.

[matchesmalone]

I thought Torts was a bit quick on the gun with the benching after Laine had just had a 2-goal game the night before, but he seems to have responded well to it. I agree with you completely - Jarmo and Torts seem to have a great thing going and I hope it continues and that the Jackets find success. I've always thought highly of Jarmo's ability, though you're right that I was unimpressed with their most recent drafts. To be fair though, I only started my current way of analyzing drafts in 2018 (so Bemstrom, Tarasov, and Tex from 2017 don't figure in) and I did say that I their 2018 draft was decent (Foudy, Marchenko, and I think we might still see something from Trey-Fix Wolansky). 2019 and 2020 were pretty dismal, though their fist pick in 2019 was in the 4th round. Mind you, that's on them for the Matt Duchene experiment and the William Karlsson Vegas thing that doesn't seem like such a great move now after all. Eric Hjorth might be something though. And the jury's still out on Chinakhov of course, but I still think they had better options available.. Barron, Gunler, Hirvonen, Lapierre, Perreault, and Zary to name a few.

Well, maybe I'm just a fanboy at this point, but I thought the Duchene move was great. He was huge for them on that run. That game one comeback and then sweep of the league powerhouse had to have been one of, if not the most exciting time in the young history of the franchise. And they pushed Boston hard. I know it doesn't seem like much, second round. But it was the first time past the first round in franchise history, and they did it with a bang. They were losing Bread and Bob, and they needed to do something. They could have traded them both and did a little rebuild, but that would have been the wrong thing. Not because of the fans -although that was a factor - but because of the team. Torts and Foligno and that leadership group had worked so hard to build the culturethey have now. All the players that were benched, the organization needed to reward players for the sacrifices they had made, and in part because of the Duchene trade - not just Duchene the player, although as I said he was great during the run - but also the message it sent to the team and the confidence it inspired, they finally made it past the first round and could see that it was all building toward something. Also because they had drafted so well prior to that, the cupboard was so well stocked that they could afford a draft like 2019 with only a couple picks.

And it is exactly because of that culture they've built that now they can bench Dubois, and bench Laine. Torts gets all the blame for this stuff, but the leadership group in Foligno, Jones, Boone and Cam (and it's already starting to look like Roslovic is becoming part of that group) fully understands and supports what Torts is doing. Torts made it very clear that effort and play on the ice had nothing to do with Laine's benching. It was actually implied that it was because of the opposite - an excess of passion. Torts wouldn't go into details, but the rumor is that Laine was in a verbal altercation with one of the coaching staff on the bench. If that's the case, then you can see why the timing is irrelevant. If an issue comes up that goes against the team's beliefs, and what the rest of the players have to follow, then it would certainly be best to deal with it immediately and nip it in the bud.