Pens re-sign Duper



Penguins forward Pascal Dupuis celebrates 2009 Stanley Cup championship with sweet (?) tattoo

 The Pittsburgh Penguins signed Pascal Dupuis to a 2 yr / $3 mil deal today.  This comes in the wake of Pens GM Ray Shero deciding not to put in a qualifying offer to restricted free agent Tyler Kennedy, effectively making him a unrestricted free agent July 1.

 I wasn't personally in favor of signing Dupuis unless we got a great deal on him, and apparently Shero was able to pull it off.  Comparing it with the Crapitals / Brooks Laich deal, it looks really good.

To compare: the Crapitals re-signed Brooks Laich to a new contract which will pay him $27 million over 6 years - or $4.5 per year.  In 2011, Laich had 16 goals and 32 assists for a total of 48 points.  Dupuis actually scored more goals in 2011 - 17 - although he did have less overall points at 37.  More goals, less overall points, and $3 mil less per year.  Looks like a good deal for the Pens as they try to sign more players before training camp begins.

In other news, it seems that Shero did not offer TK a qualifying offer because he did not want to wait to see how arbitration would play out.  If Shero offered TK a QO, the deal would have headed to arbitration, effectively tying up $2-3 mil Shero could use elsewhere.  Instead, Shero decided to free up that money right away, and look around the league at other UFA's.  And one of those UFA's looks like Jagr, and possibly still TK.