Dubois delivering in second season with Jets

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Last summer we looked at Winnipeg Jets forward Pierre-Luc Dubois, fresh off an underwhelming debut season with the franchise.

Twenty points in 41 games is nothing to scoff at, but the Jets were hopeful the player they were acquiring was the same one who took the 2019-20 Stanley Cup Playoffs by storm with his dominating two-way play for the Columbus Blue Jackets.

One of the concerns with Dubois’ disappointing first season – and I use the word disappointing only in relative terms; he’s clearly a fantastic player – was an inability to elevate the play of those around him. The team needed some secondary scoring behind the Mark Scheifele line, and that didn’t materialize.

Additionally, Dubois’ reputation as a gifted off-puck player didn’t amount to much in the way of defensive improvement either. Winnipeg’s inability to play with the puck and control the pace was non-existent. Rather than Dubois lifting the performance of others, it was the others acting as an anchor of sorts on Dubois’ play.

It made this season a pivotal one – doubly so for a player who enters restricted free agency this summer. And has Dubois ever delivered. On the offensive side of the ice, Dubois’ 22 goals are second best in the Winnipeg lineup (behind Kyle Connor’s 32) and 32nd in the National Hockey League, sandwiched between players like Carolina’s Andrei Svechnikov and San Jose’s Tomas Hertl.

We expected some regression to the upside after last season’s quiet offensive production, but it’s notable to me the 23-year-old forward is running career highs in scoring this season.

Consider his offensive output (all situations) since entering the league, and notice how Dubois as an individual attacker has dialled up the intensity this