John Tortorella Comments On Benching Pierre-Luc Dubois Amid Trade Request

The Pierre-Luc Dubois situation is getting more and more dicey by the day. Tonight, it may have hit its breaking point.

It’s no secret that the rising star wants out of Columbus. In fact, coach John Tortorella has spoken openly about it recently. Torts was critical of the way Dubois has handled the whole situation, saying that he wishes the guy would be more vocal with his teammates about why he wants out.

“He should get in front of it,” the Columbus head coach told 97.1 The Fan’s Rothman and Ice last week. “That’s the way I think you should go about your business, and be the best teammate you can be.”

“He wants out. He spoke to the team as we do here,” Tortorella added. “It’s a little bit different [situation] than [Artemi Panarin] and [Sergei Bobrovsky]. This is a 22-year-old kid, [it] doesn’t happen that often. He has been honest with the group. I wish he was a little bit more honest as far as reasons why. Still haven’t really gotten to that, but I think he needs to speak on that. I won’t.”

Tortorella denied benching Pierre-Luc Dubois due to his trade request, but tonight he went against all of that. Dubois rode the bench for all of the second and third periods during the OT loss to the Lightning, and played under four minutes overall.

John Tortorella spoke on his decision to bench Dubois in typical Torts fashion.

"Told ya." — John Tortorella, referencing his previous comment about how the media would know when he benches somebody.

— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) January 22, 2021

FWIW, John Tortorella didn't say much about Dubois benching, saying, "I'm not going to have a discussion about it with you guys."

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) January 22, 2021

At end of media conference, Tortorella does go into it a bit more due to @Aportzline follow-up. Key section: "It’s up to the player to show me. If you play the proper way, you're going to get out there." Dubois declined to comment tonight.

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) January 22, 2021

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I love John Tortorella, but this is a bad look for the hard-nosed coach. Do you think players around the league are watching how he’s handled the whole Pierr-Luc Dubois situation and saying, “I want to go play for that guy,”? Yeah, no chance.

The Blue Jackets need to move Pierre-Luc Dubois soon, before things get ugly.

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