Kekalainen accuses Dubois of lying

Columbus Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen says without flinching that forward Pierre-Luc Dubois is not telling the truth about his latest contract negotiations.

On December 31, the Quebecer initialed a two-year agreement worth a total of $ 10 million. However, he publicly demanded a transaction.

On Saturday his wish was granted and he was traded to the Winnipeg Jets.

During an interview with the Sportsnet network held on the day of this transaction, the 22-year-old striker allowed himself to give more details about the thorny situation.

“It was a process,” he said. I thought about it for a long time, it wasn’t overnight, I didn’t just wake up one morning and made this decision. It was something I had thought about, and as the negotiations went on I didn’t take anything personal, but as I went along I started to think about things and situations. . « 

“At one point, I thought if it was a long contract, eventually I would have wanted a trade to take place.”

Kekalainen refutes

On Monday, the Blue Jackets GM said that was wrong.

“It’s just not true at all and he knows it. I don’t know why he would say that or even imply something like that, ”Kekalainen told TSN.

“I think in total it took 10 minutes to draft his contract when we finally agreed on the length of the deal. We had several proposals on the table, either two years or three to eight years. ”

« There was never a problem with the negotiation of this contract, it was concluded very quickly and I think that what we signed is a fair agreement for both parties », added the general manager.

Kekalainen would also like Dubois to be more honest about his reasons for wanting to leave the Blue Jackets.

“There was nothing in these negotiations and I would like Pierre-Luc to tell the truth about why he wanted to leave. He didn’t even tell me. He didn’t tell his teammates or anyone else. It was certainly not about contract negotiations, I can assure you. ”