Two Years, $1.6 Million for Pens RFA Brian Dumoulin

Thursday, the Penguins re-signed RFA defenseman Brian Dumoulin to a two-year, $1.6 million contract extension.

From the Penguins,

The Pittsburgh Penguins have re-signed defenseman Brian Dumoulin to a two-year contract, it was announced today by executive vice president and general manager Jim Rutherford.

The deal runs through the 2016-17 season and carries an average annual value of $800,000.

Dumoulin, 23, saw action in all five postseason games with Pittsburgh this past spring, when he averaged 14:06 minutes per game and posted a plus-1. He also skated in eight regular-season contests with the Penguins, scoring his first NHL goal Dec. 15versus Tampa Bay.

It's a good step for the Penguins, who still have a number of roster spots to fill out and a diminishing amount of cap space with which to do it.

Dumoulin appeared in eight games with the Penguins last season and all five postseason games against the Rangers. While rookie jitters seemed to hamper him in his early appearances (including that infamous minus-2 performance against the same Rangers in December), his playoffs were surprisingly solid.

He and now-Capitals defector Taylor Chorney combined to make up an emergency third defense pair in the postseason. The duo was solid, allowing no goals against in five games with New York.

Dumoulin gets a one-way deal this time around, ensuring his graduation to the big club. It's a nice get for Dumoulin, who has only 21 NHL games to his credit and had virtually no negotiating leverage as an RFA player.

GM Jim Rutherford and others within the organization set out to improve the top-six forwards this summer. Doing so, they said, would come by way of graduating the team's cheap, young defensemen to NHL roles.

That plan appears to be coming together.

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