With the Penguins in the midst of their offseason, the Tribune-Review is looking at all 49 players currently under NHL contracts to the organization in alphabetical order, from mid-level prospect Niclas Almari to top-six winger Jason Zucker.
Brian Dumoulin
Position: Defenseman
Shoots: Left
Age: 29
Height: 6-foot-4
Weight: 207 pounds
2020-21 NHL statistics: 41 games, 14 points (four goals, 10 assists)
Contract: Fourth year of a six-year contract with a salary cap hit of $4.1 million. Pending unrestricted free agent in 2023.
(Note: Dumoulin’s contract contains a modified no-trade clause that allows him to submit a 10-team no-trade list.)
Acquired: Trade, June 22, 2012
2020-21 season: There is a before and after to Brian Dumoulin’s season.
As in before he was injured and after he was injured.
From the season opener on Jan. 13 to the moment he was injured on Jan. 26, Dumoulin looked much like the same player who labored through the late stages of the 2019-20 campaign after he suffered a serious left ankle injury in November of 2019.
Dumoulin’s suspected knee injury suffered this past January sidelined him for 15 games. By the time he returned, he appeared to be a much different entity on the ice.
Back in the lineup by March 6, Dumoulin was reunited with his regular partner, Kris Letang, and routinely drew assignments against the opposition’s top lines. Not coincidentally, the Penguins enjoyed a season-best six-game winning streak upon Dumoulin’s return.
Overall, Dumoulin was second on the team with an average of 22:21 of ice time per game. Additionally, he was the team’s top penalty killer as he led the Penguins with 2:45 of short-handed ice time.
And while no one will ever confuse him with Larry Murphy, Dumoulin’s offensive production enjoyed a bit of a boost as he averaged a career-best 0.34 points per game. He even managed to break into the Penguins’ top 100 career scorers after eight seasons with the franchise.
In the postseason, Dumoulin appeared in six games and recorded two assists while absorbing plenty of abuse from the New York Islanders.
The future: After a third consecutive quick exit from the playoffs, there has been a fair amount of speculation over which players the Penguins may part ways with in the name of breaking through their futility.
Dumoulin appears to be nothing close to a consideration for being jettisoned anytime soon.
When healthy, he’s one of the top defensive defensemen in the NHL and serves as a perfect counterbalance to Letang’s dynamic but risky approach. And from an intangible sense, he has elevated himself into being arguably the loudest voice in the team’s room, particularly after the relatively recent departures of team leaders such as Chris Kunitz and Patric Hornqvist.
As far as next month’s expansion draft is concerned, Dumoulin should be a lock for the list of protected players the Penguins will submit.
Given how much wear and tear he has seen in his role as well as the fact that he’ll turn 30 on Sept. 6, it’s fair to wonder what Dumoulin might still have left to contribute at this level, especially considering he has missed 56 of a possible 125 games over the past two regular seasons.
But when he’s healthy, Dumoulin remains as reliable as ever.
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Seth Rorabaugh is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Seth by email at [email protected] or via Twitter .
