It’s almost unbelievable looking at the statline for Pierre Luc DuBois from his first year with the Blue Jackets last year. Let’s see what he did and look towards the future for, I’m going to say it, the Jackets’ next star.
#3 Pierre Luc DuBois
Voting
3rd out of 55 eligible players (2823 points)
Highest placement: #3 (62 ballots)
Most common placement: #3 (62 ballots)
Biography
Birthdate: June 24, 1998
Birthplace: Ste-Agathe-Des-Monts, Quebec, Canada
Height: 6’3”
Weight: 207 lbs
Position: LW
Acquired: Drafted by Columbus in Round 1 of the 2016 draft (#3 overall)
2017-18 Season
Can you have a better debut campaign than PLD did? 48 points (20 goals, 28 assists) in a full 82-game season to accompany some fancy stats of a 56% CF% and a 56.9% FF%.
His points total was only outdone by Seth Jones and Artemi Panarin, and only Cam Atkinson and the Breadman scored more goals than PLD. He also set the Jackets’ record for most goals scored by a rookie, doing so with a hat trick against Calgary.
2018-19 Forecast
Is it a copout to say keep on keepin on, my man? Tom Reed did a feature on PLD’s offseason earlier this week, where he notes PLD has gained six pounds since April (presumably of pure, unadulterated muscle – can I peak that workout plan?) and is currently at 11-percent body fat (seriously, I need this workout plan).
Another point raised in Reed’s article is his on-ice relationship with Panarin, where Reed notes PLD played more time 5v5 with Panarin than any other player. If Panarin is, indeed, on his way out of Columbus, how will that impact his game? Will that cause a downturn in PLD’s production or give him more room to shine?
I think we all agree we hope it’s the latter, but only time will tell.