Phillip Danault admits: the Pierre-Luc Dubois saga “hurt the Kings”.

Last summer, the Los Angeles Kings wanted to make a big splash by acquiring Pierre-Luc Dubois. The forward, who was expected to solidify the top-6 of a team looking to move to the next level, was acquired at a high price.

This was true both in terms of the transaction (Gabe Vilardi, Alex Iafallo, Rasmus Kupari and the Habs’ second-round pick) and the contract ($8.5 million per year for eight years).

That said, it didn’t exactly have the desired effect in Los Angeles. Dubois scored just 16 goals and 40 points in 82 games, and was traded for Darcy Kuemper earlier this summer.

The Kings clearly threw in the towel after just one year.

All in all, then, it hasn’t been ideal for the Kings… and Phillip Danault admits: it’s hurt his team.

He spoke to Stéphane Cadorette, who reported the forward’s comments in a text published on the TVA Sports website.

The Pierre-Luc Dubois saga hurt the Kings, admits Danault: “We lost a lot of players” https://t.co/YQ2lxcbNo1 pic.twitter.com/d0mXf128bT

– TVA Sports (@TVASports) July 24, 2024

Danault acknowledges that the Kings lost a lot of players in the deal. Vilardi probably hurt the most, with 22 goals and 36 points in just 47 games.

That’s roughly the same production as Dubois… in just over half a season.

Danault tries to explain things by saying that Dubois must have put himself under a lot of pressure following the transaction, which can affect some players. That said, the Habs veteran admits that he was surprised to see PLD come to town with an eight-year contract in his pocket, and that it was a tricky situation to manage.

When the player acquired with great fanfare and who got the big contract doesn’t perform, it’s not exactly optimal… and it generates frustration in both the player and his teammates.

We’ll see if Dubois, who has the talent to bounce back, can do it away from Los Angeles, where it simply hasn’t worked out for him. And we’ll see if the Kings can bounce back from this experience, which was a failure in every respect.

Overtime

– What do you think?

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The #Flames emerge as the unanimous winner in this list curated by @miketgould, @scotmaxw and @coltonrdavies:https://t.co/XW4tp3SFs4

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– A settled case for the Red Sox.

This will avoid distractions leading up to the deadline. https://t.co/u3O1F0CLRt

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