Dubois feeling more like himself as camp gets underway

WINNIPEG - Pierre-Luc Dubois is turning the page on last season, all while living up to a nickname that began in junior hockey and has followed him into the National Hockey League.
"He's a horse," said Winnipeg Jets captain Blake Wheeler. "He's a guy that can make a real difference for our team, there's no question."
But in 2020-21, Dubois felt like anything but a horse.
After being acquired by the Jets from the Columbus Blue Jackets, Dubois had to quarantine for two weeks as per protocol. Then, within a few games with his new team, the third overall pick in the 2016 NHL Draft sustained the first injury of his NHL career.
"Last year didn't go as I wanted to but I know what player I am, what kind of game I can play. I know what I can bring to this team," said Dubois. "To be able to go back this summer and watch games of the past of what I've done and get back to my normal self - my normal self, physically, and my normal self mentally. I felt good and am looking forward to the season."

Dubois finished the season with nine goals and 21 points, then had three assists in the seven postseason games he played.

The 6'2", 205-pound Dubois didn't feel like himself.
"I wanted to be the horse, but I felt, physically, I wasn't in the shaped I needed to be where I needed to be to be that guy," Dubois said. The first couple games that I played, I was getting tired. I was keeping the shifts short because it was hard, it's hard as a centreman to go up and down the ice and be the first guy back and the first guy on offence."
When the season was over, Dubois sat down with his trainer and set out a plan to skate more that he ever had in any previous off-season. A far cry from a difficult previous off-season, when multiple shutdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic kept him off the ice - and out of the gym - for weeks at a time.
The new training regimen worked.
"I had a really good summer, and frankly, every summer I get back, I spent my summer in Montreal, I know I'm going to get to camp in good shape," said Dubois. "I feel really good right now. There is no extra pressure in that sense. I know how I feel, I know that I'm ready to go."
Jets head coach Paul Maurice said the quality summer of training was evident in Dubois as soon as he arrived for camp.
"He wins the shirt off test," said Maurice. "He's put time in to be a better player this year. You just watch him in practice, he's moving different, he's covering more ice. He's stronger. So we can move on, we think."
Line rushes on the first day of camp are always fluid, but Maurice had Dubois with Andrew Copp and Nikolaj Ehlers on Thursday's skate, which included drills and a short scrimmage.
It's a trio Maurice has used before, but is also a group that could see some power play time together.

Either way, he expects that Dubois has left last season in the rear-view mirror.
"My advice to him now is it's been handled, he stood in front of the microphones and answered those questions," said Maurice. "He was moving really good today, covered ice, made some good players, looked strong. It's not a situation where you can be overly physical out there because of the style of the drills. "
When Dubois was acquired, much was made of his performance in the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
However, he doesn't feel he has to live up to just one series.
"I think it's just being me, being who I am, the guy that was in Columbus that they traded for, for the player that they saw there, for the three seasons, not just one season or just playoffs, but for three years," Dubois said. "It's not like I have to become somebody new. It's not like I have to become somebody I've never been before."
ICE CHIPS
Dubois will wear number 80 going forward, after wearing 13 in his first season with the Jets.
The change came after his former teammate in Columbus, Matiss Kivlenieks, died from chest trauma after being hit by an errant firework - all in an effort to save the lives of teammate Elvis Merzlikins and his pregnant girlfriend - on July 4.
"Whether it was there or anywhere else in the NHL, he was a great goalie. I talked to my dad and said 'what can I do? What's maybe one thing I can do to stretch his legacy out?' I obviously can't wear his last name on my back but one thing I can do is to use his number," said Dubois. "For me, I want to have No. 80 for the rest of my career. It's never going to be my number, it's always going to be his that I'm just borrowing. I asked Elvis, I asked Manny (Legace) in Columbus if they were okay with it. They were happy about that, so it's just another thing I'll hold closely for the rest of my career."