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07-05-2013, 03:21 PM
Pascal Dupuis (http://penguins.nhl.com/club/player.htm?id=8466393)’ brand-new contract extension with the Penguins – a four-year deal with an average annual value of $3.75 million – was announced just before midnight on Tuesday while his four children were already in bed for the night.

While the kids were still sleeping early the next morning, Dupuis left his offseason home in Blainville, Quebec to go for a bike ride. The little ones woke up while he was gone and Dupuis’ wife Carole-Lyne gave them the good news – that they were going to be staying in Pittsburgh.

“They were really, really jacked up,” Dupuis said of his kids – son Kody and daughters Maeva, Zoe and Lola. “Actually, they were getting a little anxious and nervous to find out what was going to happen. So everybody’s happy. Everybody’s ecstatic at my house. We wanted to be back and it definitely makes sense with the contract that Ray (Shero) offered to not have to test the market and feel comfortable that I’m getting my fair value.”

A FAIR DEAL

Dupuis’ deal makes sense for both sides. It’s the result of, as Dupuis remarked, Penguins general manager Ray Shero really wanting him back and him really wanting to be back – and negotiating accordingly to make that happen.

Dupuis is getting a substantial raise from his previous contracts with Pittsburgh. In his previous two-year deal he had a cap hit of $1.5 million, a mere $100,000 raise from the three-year deal he had signed with Pittsburgh before that.

But that raise is absolutely deserved, as Dupuis continues to improve with age and is coming off the two most successful seasons of his career. He scored a personal-best 25 goals in 2011-12 and netted 20 goals in just 48 games this year (as well as a team-leading seven goals in the playoffs). He plays the right side on the NHL’s best line with Chris Kunitz (http://penguins.nhl.com/club/player.htm?id=8470543) and Sidney Crosby (http://penguins.nhl.com/club/player.htm?id=8471675) and has filled the role of that proverbial “winger for Sid” perfectly. Dupuis also brings so many intangibles, like leadership – mentoring his younger teammates – personality and a sense of humor that are all invaluable in the locker room.

And though Dupuis probably could have made even more if he had decided to test the market, Shero still offered him a fair salary – and he accepted.

Read more: http://penguins.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=676476&navid=DL|PIT|home