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Penguins cave in and pay RFA Brian Dumoulin

July 24, 2017, 12:48 PM ET [109 Comments]
Ryan Wilson
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Pittsburgh Penguins have one less major roster move to take care of this summer. Brian Dumoulin, who was scheduled for an arbitration hearing today, was re-signed by Jim Rutherford before the hearing started.

Brian Dumoulin was an RFA which normally gives the team some leverage to keep costs down. It did not in this case. Dumoulin received both money and term.




I'm not a very big fan of the NHL's restricted free agency system. I feel as though there are a lot of players who don't get the money they deserve because of it. Brian Dumoulin does not fall into that category and good for him.

However, the system is set up to control costs for the team and the Penguins did not take advantage of that leverage with this deal. They paid a UFA price and term for an RFA. Will this contract kill them? No, not in a vacuum it won't. Although, 500k here and 500k there and all of a sudden you don't have the financial freedom to round out the lineup like you wanted to. Each time you sign a player to these mid-tier deals you will have a ripple effect on your cap situation. Right now you have to look squarely at Olli Maatta and ask yourself if you really want to pay him 4.2M on that deal anymore? He doesn't drive play or contribute much offense these days. At least with Dumoulin you are getting a player who can really help in transition and has the ability to stay on the ice.

Transition and passing is where the value lies with Brian Dumoulin as shown here




Dumoulin compares favorably in some of these areas to one of the better puck moving defenseman in the league. The huge difference is that Kevin Shattenkirk had a 1.11 5v5 points per 60 last year and Dumoulin's was 0.40. That's where you earn the big bucks.

I'm a fan of Matt Cane's work with projected salaries for players. People in and around the NHL have been known to reference his work




He had Brian Dumoulin at 2.48M. That is significantly lower than what the deal ultimately turned out to be. This is one area to track moving forward now that the Penguins cap specialist has moved on.

A big reason why Matt Cane's number is low is because of the lack of offensive production you get from Dumoulin which was referenced above. It doesn't mean that he can't help the team, but for 4.1M I'd like to see some tangible offense being recorded. Offensive production a lot of times is the result of your role on the team. When you look at the minutes Dumoulin plays and who he plays them with you wonder how he doesn't accidently pick up more points. It's actually amazing how low his numbers are in that department all things considered.




If the team is going to play Brian Dumoulin top pairing minutes in the future, and what other choice do they have right now, it has to be with Kris Letang or Justin Schultz. That shouldn't be an issue when everybody is healthy, but let's assume Letang misses some time because he will. You can't expect Dumoulin to work magic with top pairing minutes if Schultz stays with Ian Cole. Asking him to play top pairing minutes with a Ron Hainsey type was a gamble they got away with in the playoffs. You only have to look at Dumoulin's on-ice save percentage (95.2%!) to understand why they survived with that pairing while living in their own end. That isn't a sustainable model if offensive production isn't a part of a player's skill set and we know it isn't part of Dumoulin's.

This isn't a "bad" contract. It isn't a "good" contract. It's one where I believe the Penguins left some value on the table in a system that is designed to give them value on this kind of player. This contract alone should not have a huge negative impact on the team, but now they have to make some decisions on some of the other players in this price range.

Can they continue to pay Olli Maatta (4.2) and Carl Hagelin (4.0M) the money that they get if they both have a repeat of 2016-17? What do you do with Patric Hornqvist's expiring contract? Ian Cole will be looking for a new deal at the conclusion of this year as well. Paying Brian Dumoulin 4.1M impacts all of this and the fallout could go either way as we truck on towards the future.

Chalk this up as one of the rare victories for an RFA in the NHL.



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