Pierre-Luc Dubois battled through real discomfort as Washington's 2025-26 campaign wound down, all while nursing a fractured hand.
In the team's 6-3 win against Pittsburgh this past Saturday, Dubois drove into the end boards behind the Penguins' cage while setting up a tally for Ryan Leonard. Hurt on the play, he exited that game, yet dressed once more the following evening when the two clubs met again on Washington ice.
Speaking on Thursday, the center recounted getting hurt during Saturday's matchup with Pittsburgh and said he was still working his way back from it, describing the whole campaign as deeply frustrating.
He revealed he'd fractured the hand and was set to consult a doctor the next day, pegging the recovery as a one-to-two-month matter and voicing hope that no operation would be required. More would be clear once that appointment was over, he said, treating it as just one more element of a maddening stretch.
Once the Caps were knocked from the playoff chase, Dubois sat out the season's closing game against Columbus, with Hendrix Lapierre drawing in. He'd seemingly meant to keep grinding through the discomfort had the team managed to push its season further.
Dubois admitted he'd always wondered if it was something he could manage, the way you see other players suit up hurt and question whether you'd be able to. It isn't enjoyable, he said, but it goes with this point on the calendar, when nearly everyone carries some bumps; the thing hurt, yet he'd do the same thing over if circumstances called for it.
That late-season blow capped the most injury-riddled campaign of the 27-year-old's career. To fix problems in his adductor and abdominal regions, he went under the knife on the 7th of November, then rejoined the lineup come February 5, having sat for 52 contests across the year's opening four months.
In all, Dubois suited up for only 29 games on the season, producing 19 points via five goals and 14 helpers. Prior to this, no non-COVID year of his had ever seen him dip beneath the 73-game threshold.
On a personal level, Dubois said, it represented the first major injury he'd faced and meant plenty of time on the sidelines. The mental piece is never simple, he noted — a month spent stuck on the couch, sneaking in a bit of skating, and putting in just bare-bones work at the gym. None of it was easy, he said, yet as he'd noted earlier, the training staff, his teammates, and the personnel were a huge help, keeping him in the loop on everything happening with the team. Watching from above, kept from competing alongside everyone else for that length of time, proved hard, he said, even as the year brought no shortage of lessons.
Now Dubois faces an offseason like no other in his career, since the injury also keeps him out of a Canadian national-team role at the upcoming Worlds, an international event he's been part of on four prior occasions. He remains unsure how best to fill his looming free stretch.
By his own account, never before in his career has he sat out the playoffs and the Worlds in the same year, which leaves him genuinely uncertain about what to do; he hasn't given it heavy thought. The hand issue is now complicating matters, he added, but he'll have ample time to mull it over while making sure he puts together a strong offseason.
This past campaign marked just the third season covered by Dubois' eight-year agreement. His contract expires after 2030-31, and the lone Capitals signed beyond that point are Martin Fehervary and Jakob Chychrun, each locked up through 2032-33.