Kings' Pierre-Luc Dubois talks trade requests, fan reaction ahead of Winnipeg return

Kings forward Pierre-Luc Dubois knows he rubbed many fans in Columbus and Winnipeg the wrong way with a pair of polarizing trade requests that ended his respective tenures with each club.

Dubois, however, seems to have no regrets about adjusting to life in Los Angeles.

“I knew I was going to be criticized when I asked Columbus for my trade,” Murat Ates said in a recent interview with The Athletic. “I knew I was going to be criticized when something like this happened in Winnipeg. I answered this by saying, “I don't want to be criticized, but I'm not doing my job… or I want to be criticized, but I want to be? Are you happy with my life?”

“Everybody's entitled to their opinion. At the end of the day, this is my life: I only live once. I only have one career,” Dubois added.

The 25-year-old, who made his third NHL team after going third overall in the 2016 NHL Draft, had been rumored to be on the move from Winnipeg since the 2022 season, when it became known he wanted to test free agency. The contract expires in 2024.

DuBois traded him to the Kings over the summer for a second-round draft pick in 2024 that included forwards Alex Iafallo, Rasmus Cupari and Gabriel Vilardi before inking a monster eight-year extension with Los Angeles.

The Blue Jackets team that traded him to the Jets also had issues making Dubois happy — under different but somewhat similar circumstances. Prior to his fourth campaign in Columbus, Dubois was managed by then-head coach John Tortorella for just five games in the 2020-21 campaign and was soon traded to Winnipeg to replace Patrick Laine.

Dubois says that while he admitted he wanted her, the intentions behind his words and feelings were “misunderstood” in both proceedings.

“A lot of people think that if he does it, it's because he hates it. But this is not the case at all.

“If you ask me what I want people to understand, the main thing I would say is that you can like two things at the same time. You can appreciate two different things at the same time.”

Dubois has yet to find the two-game schedule he worked with the Kings, but his next chance to make an impact will be against the Jets when they return to Winnipeg on Tuesday.

“It's going to be special, I'm sure,” Dubois told NHL.com. “I'm sure some fans will take it differently, but for me it will be special … playing against some of my teammates and friends in Winnipeg will be a special game.”

If those are the jitters, Dubois says it changes his outlook on his tenure with the Jets “a little bit.”

“If they're going to support me leaving, I think I'm going to question my time there a little bit,” Dubois said Saturday. “But he is.”