2018-19 Review: Pierre-Luc Dubois keeps making you forget about Puljujärvi

I don’t know about you, but among the first things that stick out about Pierre-Luc Dubois to me is how he has yet to miss a game in his NHL career. On top of competing in all 82 regular season games for a second season in a row, and the 10 playoff games the Jackets played in, Dubois upped his career scoring totals and continues to carve out his identity for the Blue Jackets, and around the NHL as a whole.

So, Jesse Puljujärvi who?

Pierre-Luc Dubois 2018-19 Stats

Games played: 82
Goals: 27
Assists: 34
Points: 61
Time on ice: 17:43
Penalty Minutes: 64
Corsi For (even strength): 52.1%

2018-19 Playoff Stats

Games played: 10
Goals: 2
Assists: 3
Points: 5
Time on ice: 17:29
Penalty Minutes: 14
Corsi For (even strength): 47.8%

High Point

As we mentioned at the top, Dubois set new career highs with 27 goals, 34 assists, and 61 points. Along with Josh Anderson, Dubois was among the most penalized Blue Jackets (64 PIM) and had five game-winning goals on the season, one more than in his rookie season. I want to add, that I love his “pestness,” or knack for being able to get inside the domes of other players, while not being afraid to go toe-to-toe with anyone.

Shoutout to Ryan Real who will agree.

Dubois had a career-high four-point game against the Senators on New Year’s Eve, and then matched that output in a game at the Blackhawks in February. More on that.

Low Point

Does this constitute as a low point? Well, the celebration, maybe, but it’s funny anyway.

Dubois only had two points in the second round series against the Bruins, a goal in Game 1 and an assist in Game four. He was a -1 in four of the five games, even in Game 4, and skated to a -5 for the series — (I know +/- is not a great stat) — and the negative is more on the team as a whole for those goals allowed in those particular instances.

Look at With/Without, courtesy of Hockey Viz, and the representation of Blue Jackets with and without Dubois. Short samples and all, the time away from Artemi Panarin is rather alarming but Dubois is young, we know how great Panarin is, and over the course of a long season, I think we’ll see trends even out a bit.

Hockey Viz

The Spider chart represents different combinations playing with Dubois.

Hockey Viz

As Dubois enters his last season as an RFA, I very much look forward to his next deal that will lock him up in Columbus for the foreseeable future.