Blackhawks: Trading for Pierre-Luc Dubois might come at too high a price

The Chicago Blackhawks rebuild is going to involve some trades through the next few years, but it doesn’t need to start with Dubois.

Pierre-Luc Dubois wants out of Columbus. There are a lot of teams part of the conversation as potential landing spots for Dubois later this season, the Chicago Blackhawks are one of them. At a time when the ‘Hawks are trying to better themselves through a rebuild, adding Dubois to their lineup would be great for the team on the ice now and in the future.

Pierre-Luc Dubois is under contract through the 2021-22 season. At just five million per year, the Blue Jackets center is going to be worth a lot more when his contract is up at the age of 24. Dubois was drafted third overall by the Columbus Blue Jackets during the 2016 NHL draft, and Chicago does already have a few players drafted third overall.

Jonathan Toews, Kirby Dach, and Dylan Strome make up the Blackhawks centermen that were drafted third overall. While trading for Dubois might be a great fit for the team during the coming season, it will come at a cost a few years down the line.

Dylan Strome, Dominik Kubalik, Adam Boqvist, Connor Murphy, and Kirby Dach will all be looking for new contracts at the end of the 2022 season. Adding another highly skilled player to that group is not going to make things easier on the ‘Hawks general manager at that point.

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Through the first three seasons of his NHL career, Dubois has put up 158 points through 234 NHL games. His faceoff percentage is around 43.9 percent thus far via Hockey Reference, and he would be a great fit for any NHL team in need of a center.

If you are a subscriber to the Athletic check out Pierre LeBrun’s article going over a few landing spots for Dubois, it is a great piece and shows just how many teams are interested in adding him to their lineup.

Now obviously Dubois would be a great addition to the Blackhawks, but during a time when the team is rebuilding, adding him would come at too high of a cost. For starters, one player that could make this an easy one for one trade would be Kirby Dach, but there is no way the Chicago Blackhawks would ever want to part with Dach, as he is the face of the new franchise.

"Blackhawks: Who will play with Dominik Kubalik this season?"

So if Dach is off the list then that means Chicago would have to give up some draft picks and prospects that the team might want to hold onto. While there is no doubt in my mind that Pierre-Luc Dubois could make the Blackhawks better, I do not think there is a trade out there that would make it worth while. Feel free to comment sharing what you think would be a good trade for the Blue Jackets center.