Last summer, the Montreal Canadiens were frontrunners in acquiring centre Pierre-Luc Dubois from the Winnipeg Jets.
But as Canadiens fans argued about whether the 25-year-old was worth his heavy price, the month-long saga of rumours finally concluded with Dubois being traded to the Los Angeles Kings instead for a package including Gabriel Vilardi, Alex Iafallo, Rasmus Kupari and a 2024 second-round pick
And so far, with the way things have played out, the Habs are likely breathing a sigh of relief, partly because they are getting a similar output from a much more affordable player.
At 19, Juraj Slafkovsky is playing out his first full NHL season. And despite getting off to a slow start, The Habs’ first overall pick in the 2022 Draft has been heating up as of late, with four goals and six points over his last five games.
On his way to becoming a first-line staple, finding chemistry with the likes of Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki, Slafkovsky has a respectable 10 goals and 24 points through the first 52 games of the season.
His current pace should see him conclude the year with 16 goals and 38 points.
Let’s compare those stats with Dubois, who has been in the NHL since 2017.
Since signing an eight-year, $68 million contract extension over the offseason, the French Canadian forward has 11 goals and 21 points over 49 games with LA.
Now on his third NHL team, the Ste-Agathe-des-Monts native has had trouble with consistency, logging two points in his last five games, and four in his last 10. If he keeps up this pace, he’ll finish the year with 18 goals and 35 points over 82 games.
Along with a disappointing offensive output, Dubois has also racked up a plus/minus score of -16.
As for the 24-year-old centre’s performance in the faceoff dot, he currently wins less than half of his draws with a faceoff percentage of 48.7%.
The Habs rookie has the edge oover Dubois in a few other categories as well.
In fact, Slafkovsky is now averaging more ice time (16:56 TOI vs. 15:40) than Dubois. He’s also got a slightly better shooting percentage, averaging 12.7% vs. Dubois’ 12.4%.
The comparison between Slafkovsky and Dubois is interesting considering the two players are at different stages of their careers. As a result, similar numbers in the stats column tell two very different stories.