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Penguins re-sign Pascal Dupuis to two-year, $3M deal

Pittsburgh Penguins v New York Islanders

at the Nassau Coliseum on April 8, 2011 in Uniondale, New York.

Bruce Bennett

Life and hockey trades are funny sometimes. When the Pittsburgh Penguins took “the next step” by acquiring Marian Hossa from the Atlanta Thrashers in a big trade, it seemed like plucky forward Pascal Dupuis would be a mere throw-in (kind of like when Tomas Kopecky signed with Hossa in Chicago).

Yet after one productive postseason, Hossa took off from Pittsburgh to Detroit (and then to Chicago). The Atlanta Thrashers didn’t do much with their assets, either, as Colby Armstrong and Erik Christensen wear other teams’ uniforms and the two prospects they received haven’t amounted to much.

In a weird way, Dupuis is why the Penguins might have “won” that deal. He scored a solid 103 points in 233 games after signing a three-year, $4.2 million deal with Pittsburgh in 2008 and hopes to do even better with his latest deal. Dave Molinari reports that Dupuis and the Penguins agreed to a two-year, $3 million deal today. That amounts to about a $100K raise for Dupuis since his annual cap hit goes from $1.4 million to $1.5 million.

That amount seems pretty much on-the-nose for a quality character guy who does a little bit of everything (and with some speed). If HBO’s 24/7 series is any indication, he’s also pretty tight with Sidney Crosby - either serving as his roommate, friend or both - so that probably didn’t hurt his chances with the team either.

The Penguins have some interesting choices to make with pending free agents such as Tyler Kennedy and the possible return of Jaromir Jagr, so we’ll keep you informed of what they (and the 29 other NHL teams) are doing this summer.