This summer could be filled with a lot of change for the Pittsburgh Penguins, but there’s one soon-to-be free agent who doesn’t want to leave.
Forward Pascal Dupuis spoke with reporters at today’s locker clear-out and said he’d ideally like to stay with the team as Joe Starkey of 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh shares.
“Obviously, I want to stay a Pittsburgh Penguin,” Dupuis said. “I’ve said before, my wife and my kids love it around here. I have friends away from the hockey world that I want to be part of their life still.”
The catch for him is that he’s due for a raise and the Penguins could be facing salary cap problems with the upper limit coming back down to $64.3 million. He’s been one of Pittsburgh’s steadiest players the past few seasons and scored 20 goals during the shortened 2013 season. He had a career-high 25 last year.
Dupuis had a cap hit of $1.5 million the past two seasons but after how he’s played that should jump quite a bit. With $56.4 million against the cap already committed to 18 players next season is there room to bring him back? That’s a tough question for GM Ray Shero.