Overall the Washington Capitals are off to an okay start, despite currently sitting seventh in the NHL’s Metropolitan Division standings. In saying that, defensively they remain a model for other NHL franchises, similar to 2024-25. However, they will now have to deal with a lengthy injury. We have learned, that on Friday one of their top forwards, Pierre-Luc Dubois, underwent surgery and will be out of action for three-to-four months. The surgery was on his abdominal and adductor muscles. Let’s figure out the impact to the Capitals lineup.
Centre Pierre-Luc Dubois Out 3-4 Months with Core-Muscular Injury
Pierre-Luc Dubois underwent surgery Friday “to address injuries to his abdominal and adductor muscles.” He’s expected to miss 3-4 months pic.twitter.com/N4wouJnMFu
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) November 9, 2025
This injury news for Pierre-Luc Dubois kind of summarizes his 2025-26 campaign, thus far. He has only appeared in six games for the Capitals, and not since the Hallowee’en night game versus the New York Islanders. His ice time is way down, compared to what he is accustomed to, at 15:32 a night. His career average is 17:17 for reference. Furthermore, on top of his ice time being down, his production had been non-existent. He was pointless in those six contests. This is after last year having a big year in DC, racking up 66 points in 82 games. He remains a key important to the Capitals rotation upfront. Moreover, in his second last game, a game against the Dallas Stars, he was trending in the right direction. He nearly played 20 minutes that game, and won 11 of 19 faceoffs.
What Does It Mean for Washington in the Interim
Luckily, for Washington this is currently their only NHL-level injury worry. Therefore, you’d like to think they can shuffle things around to help mitigate the impact.
If we look at Dubois’ main line this year, he played with Tom Wilson and Aliaksei Protas a bunch. In 48 minutes on ice together, they had an expected goals percentage of 55.6%. In contrast, it does seem that head coach Spencer Carbery has found a suitable filler. Connor McMichael has jumped into Dubois’ slot, and done just fine. In almost 65 minutes with the same duo of wingers, they have a 51.3 xGoals%.
Hopefully Dubois can return in a timely manner, consider the proposed timetable, and get back to his 2024-25 levels.
Main Photo Credit: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images
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