The Pittsburgh Penguins continued their offseason theme of keeping their 2013 squad largely intact with the signing of Pascal Dupuis to a four-year, $15 million contract.
That’s a huge jump over his previous two-year, $3 million deal, but it’s still meaningfully less than he probably would have gotten had he elected to test the unrestricted free agent waters.
Dupuis broke out in 2011-12 with 25 goals and 59 points in 82 games. Last season he showed those numbers weren’t a fluke by recording another 20 goals and 38 points in 48 contests.
This will give the 34-year-old a similar cap hit to Chris Kunitz, who recently agreed to a three-year, $11.5 million extension. Dupuis and Kunitz providing the club with hometown discounts was necessary given how much the team has committed to Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang.
As it is, Pittsburgh already has $48.95 million in cap space allocated to just nine players in 2014-15, according to Cap Geek.
How the Penguins deal with that issue will determine how competitive they can be going forward, but if nothing else they shouldn’t be hurting for goals.