It has been a mild offseason so far for the Montreal Canadiens front office that is intent on fielding a much better product on the ice in the 2022-23 NHL season following a letdown campaign in which the team not only missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs but also posted the worst record overall in the league. This is also why Winnipeg Jets center Pierre-Luc Dubois is among the players to watch out for during this time of the year, as the Jets might just be on the verge of pulling the trigger on a trade that would send him to Montreal even after the Habs just acquired defenseman Jeff Petry and center Ryan Poehling earlier in separate transactions with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Via Murat Ates and Arpon Basu of The Athletic:

A source with knowledge of the situation confirmed to The Athletic that Dubois attended the NHL Draft in Montreal because he believed a trade would be completed on the draft floor. As first reported by Radio-Canada’s Martin Leclerc, Montreal offered three players to the Jets in hopes of securing Dubois’ rights. You’ll recall that Montreal selected Slovak right winger Juraj Slafkovsky with the No. 1 pick and then acquired Kirby Dach from Chicago.

But Dach is not Montreal’s endgame. The Canadiens have continued their pursuit of Dubois since the draft.

It is believed that Winnipeg is holding up the deal in an effort to secure a player Montreal has no interest in moving.

It's been reported that Pierre-Luc Dubois had already voiced out his intention to test the free-agent market once he is available in two years' time, so that's also an added pressure on the Jets to make a decision on him soon.

Dubois, who was drafted by the Columbus Blue Jackets third overall in 2016 and traded by the team to the Jets in 2021 for Patrik Laine and Jack Roslovic, had career-high 28 goals to go with 32 assists in 81 games in Winnipeg threads in the 2021-22 NHL campaign.