The Washington Capitals are expected to be without one of their star players for the foreseeable future. Pierre-Luc Dubois has not featured for the Caps since leaving an October 31 matchup against the New York Islanders. The dynamic center appeared to suffer a knee injury in the game while taking a faceoff against Isles center Jean-Gabriel Pageau. Dubois was immediately helped off the ice following the incident.
After being out of action for a few days, Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery issued a disappointing update regarding the injury on November 3. The reigning Jack Adams Award winner told reporters that Dubois is set to miss an “extended period of time” due to the issue.
Carbery went on to claim that team doctors have not even ruled out surgery for the winger. Additional tests are required to determine if Dubois has to go under the knife. “It’s a huge hole,” Carbery continued, as reported by TSN.
“[He was] arguably right up there last year with one of the most valuable and most important players on our roster. I’m not going to sit here and sugarcoat it and say you can replace him at this point in the year, but you can still be a good hockey team and win a lot of hockey games with injuries.”
Spencer Carbery tells Washington Capitals Players to ‘Step up’
GettyPierre-Luc Dubois has struggled with injuries to start the 2025-26 season.
Before the injury, Dubois started off the 2025-26 season slowly. In fact, the star failed to record a single point in six games so far this season. This is also, unfortunately, not the first time that Dubois has suffered a setback early in the campaign. He previously missed five games in October with a different lower-body injury.
Although he has struggled, Dubois was one of Washington’s best players throughout the 2024-25 season. In fact, the center recorded 66 points while featuring in all 82 regular-season matchups for the Caps. This tally was tied for third on the team, only behind Dylan Strome and Alex Ovechkin.
Along with updating fans on his center’s status, Carbery also made it clear that other players on the team need to up their game. “That’s part of the attrition that you need to be able to handle in this league,” continued the coach. “So, that’s what we’ll focus on. He’s out, and now we’ll need other players to step up.”
McMichael, Lapierre Likely to Help Fill Dubois Void
One player who will likely not replace Dubois at center is Aliaksei Protas. Capitals beat writer Sammi Silber reports that Carbery is, at least for now, not opting to make Protas change positions. The Belarusian forward has played well while typically being deployed alongside Dubois on the wing. Protas has 10 points in 12 games so far this season.
Instead, Connor McMichael and Hendrix Lapierre are expected to help fill the Dubois void moving forward. Carbery picked McMichael to play alongside Protas and Tom Wilson during a game against the Buffalo Sabres on November 1.
This came as fellow center Dylan Strome returned to the lineup after missing two games with an injury. As Washington’s top scorer in the 2024-25 season, Strome racked up 82 points in as many games on the year.
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