Pascal Dupuis

[cassius]

Dupuis going down was horrible, but it also cast a spotlight on just how bad our top-6 is... which needed to happen.

 

[Will Hunting]

Without Dupuis getting injured, we wouldn't have Perron. Enough said.

THis. He would be a welcomed addition during the POs for the 4th line, though. Come back, Dupers!

 

[madinsomniac]

Yes, duper was the perfect third liner. he was sort of deficient in the hands department, but not so much that he couldnt ever score. he had the speed to make teams pay for turnovers and could forecheck and was excellent defensivly. he also did not shy from hitting...

It did take his injury to force a winger aquisition, and honestly for as good as he was, we should have been looking to replace him in the top 6 not cement his role there. he had maybe two really good seasons and we pretty much paid him on the downturn of his career for that.... so we could have really used him as a third liner right now, but losing his cap space and opening the top six role for a more talented person probably helps overall... having said that he is a great guy and i wish hima speedy and total recovery

 

[Vujtek]

THis. He would be a welcomed addition during the POs for the 4th line, though. Come back, Dupers!

In a way it would be ironic if Dupuis came back for the playoffs, plays on the 4th line and Pens win the Cup. He'd then be 4th liner in the two Cup winning teams. In between those wins he'd have been 1st liner.

By all means, welcome back to playoffs to bolster the 4th line, Duper!

 

[wej20]

We miss him, it only gets difficult if his caphit would stop us acquiring Perron (I still think they could have made it work even if Duper was healthy.)

 

[Will Hunting]

In a way it would be ironic if Dupuis came back for the playoffs, plays on the 4th line and Pens win the Cup. He'd then be 4th liner in the two Cup winning teams. In between those wins he'd have been 1st liner.

By all means, welcome back to playoffs to bolster the 4th line, Duper!

Haha, really nice. That said, if he somehow comes back in the POs, we can be 99% sure that it´s for bottom6. Coaches love him in TOP6 for some reason, but there is just no way he´s in TOP6 after an injury like this.

Imagine this:
Perron-Crosby-TRADE
Comeau-Malkin-Hornqvist
Kunitz-Sutter-Bennett
Dupuis-Goc/Spaling-Downie
Goc/Spaling

 

[Will Hunting]

We miss him, it only gets difficult if his caphit would stop us acquiring Perron (I still think they could have made it work even if Duper was healthy.)

Hard to say.. There were probably other teams interested in him, Bruins for sure but they probably didn´t want to part with their 1st because they are out of PO for now. We would have to dump salary somewhere, which is not that easy and someone could jump on Perron before we would be able to dump that salary. It could´ve been really complicated, but it doesn´t matter anymore, we just have Perron now.

 

[wej20]

Would moving Spaling have been enough? damn I miss capgeek already .

 

[joeyjake5]

team would be better with Dupuis (assuming they also had Perron).

Team would be better on the PK with Dupuis (and it's been fine without him). It would give the coaches some security in benching a player like Adams.

Dupuis has speed, defensive responsibility, and fights along the boards.

If every player on this team was healthy, and they had David Perron, Pascal Dupuis would be NO WORSE than their 7th-best forward.

You don't just ditch that and say you're better.

Plus the fact that Dupers was missed in last years playoffs.

 

[cheesedanish87]

I think he was a big loss last year, and i think hes a big loss this year, its probably a long shot, but it would be nice if he could come back sometime during the playoffs.

 

[MrBurghundy]

what about his usage? if he's not on crosby's line he'd be on malkin's. if he's not on either that means kunitz is in the top six. both are lesser situations that we are in now, and that's assuming we magically still get perron

This isn't Dan Bylsma coaching the team anymore. Even Kunitz has been removed from Crosby's line this season, and Malkin's as well.

 

[AquaticBirdman]

Apart from the contract, (which is fair, just not a bargain) yes we do miss him. As much as he was holding back Sid at times, he's still an excellent 2nd/3rd line tweener who brings literally everything except for creativity. Speed, hits, defensively responsible, middle 6 sort of offensive skills, causes the opponents to rush plays and punishes them physically, great puck possession, takeaways, elite PKer in every sense of the word and a great team guy (and not just as an excuse for bad play). The only issue with Duper was that he was camped next to Sid and Kunitz and not up and down the middle 6 as he should be.

Kinda sounds like Blake Comeau, who is both cheaper AND younger. Quite frankly as much as I love Duppers I'd much rather see Comeau rounding out our top 6 over Dupuis. Dupuis would finally be place into a 3rd line winger role which is (and always has been) best suited for, especially at his age.

 

[wej20]

Kinda sounds like Blake Comeau, who is both cheaper AND younger. Quite frankly as much as I love Duppers I'd much rather see Comeau rounding out our top 6 over Dupuis. Dupuis would finally be place into a 3rd line winger role which is (and always has been) best suited for, especially at his age.

Dupuis is better defensively than Comeau by quite a distance.

 

[AquaticBirdman]

Dupuis is better defensively than Comeau by quite a distance.

Debatable. COmeau can hold his own in the defensive zone as well. Probably not as well as Dupuis, but he's not completely lost in his own end either. I also find him to be slightly better than Dupuis skill-wise.

 

[Shady Machine]

We miss him, it only gets difficult if his caphit would stop us acquiring Perron (I still think they could have made it work even if Duper was healthy.)

How?

 

[Pancakes]

I think we miss him more than people think. He's an excellent puck possession player who is a good two-way player and he has a great attitude. Not saying I want him permanently attached to Sid's hip or anything but he is a good player who brings a lot to this team.

We got Perron, so it worked out in the end I guess.

 

[DoktorZaius]

I think we miss him more than people think. He's an excellent puck possession player who is a good two-way player and he has a great attitude. Not saying I want him permanently attached to Sid's hip or anything but he is a good player who brings a lot to this team.

We got Perron, so it worked out in the end I guess.

I agree with this. If he can get healthy and into playing shape towards the back half of a cup appearance run, he could be an impact depth guy for us.

 

[wej20]

Debatable. COmeau can hold his own in the defensive zone as well. Probably not as well as Dupuis, but he's not completely lost in his own end either. I also find him to be slightly better than Dupuis skill-wise.

Disagree, Comeau has yet to prove he's close to Dupuis defensively.

 

[wgknestrick]

Yes, duper was the perfect third liner. he was sort of deficient in the hands department, but not so much that he couldnt ever score. he had the speed to make teams pay for turnovers and could forecheck and was excellent defensivly. he also did not shy from hitting...

It did take his injury to force a winger aquisition, and honestly for as good as he was, we should have been looking to replace him in the top 6 not cement his role there. he had maybe two really good seasons and we pretty much paid him on the downturn of his career for that.... so we could have really used him as a third liner right now, but losing his cap space and opening the top six role for a more talented person probably helps overall... having said that he is a great guy and i wish hima speedy and total recovery

"Perfect 3rd liner" because he was putting up stats like a 1st liner. Even with all the *****ing about him here in the top 6 the last 2-3 years, he was still #14 in 5v5 points/min among all NHL forwards during that time. ***** all you want HFB (stick to what you're good at), but there were only 11 other players in the league that we could effectively improve over him with. We aren't team Canada either.

http://stats.hockeyanalysis.com/rat...rds&minutes=1000&disp=1&sort=PCT&sortdir=DESC

Playing with Crosby certainly helps, but we sure don't see his current, non-Dupuis wingers scoring points (and mainly goals) at 5v5 like Duppers did. Hell, Perron only has 1 more 5v5 goal than Duppers despite playing over 2.5x as many minutes this year. Even in his declining years, he is still better than just about anyone we are currently replacing him with in the top 6. He is just insanely effective playing with Crosby. 1+1=3.

 

[IcedCapp]

Dupuis is Hugh Jackman's Wolverine.

Well-acted, good character who was so mind-numbingly overused by management, that it's become impossible to properly judge how good or important it really is.

 

[Fedex26]

Does anyone care to do a mock lineup with Dupuis in it if he does come back next year and a cap of 73m? Assuming no further trades and bringing back some of the better UFA's (Downie, Comeau). Thanks!

 

[IcedCapp]

Does anyone care to do a mock lineup with Dupuis in it if he does come back next year and a cap of 73m? Assuming no further trades and bringing back some of the better UFA's (Downie, Comeau). Thanks!

Perron - Crosby - Hornqvist
Comeau - Malkin - Bennett
Kunitz - Sutter - Dupuis (THE NEW CROSBY!)
Farnham - Sundqvist - Downie

 

[madinsomniac]

"Perfect 3rd liner" because he was putting up stats like a 1st liner. Even with all the *****ing about him here in the top 6 the last 2-3 years, he was still #14 in 5v5 points/min among all NHL forwards during that time. ***** all you want HFB (stick to what you're good at), but there were only 11 other players in the league that we could effectively improve over him with. We aren't team Canada either.

http://stats.hockeyanalysis.com/rat...rds&minutes=1000&disp=1&sort=PCT&sortdir=DESC

Playing with Crosby certainly helps, but we sure don't see his current, non-Dupuis wingers scoring points (and mainly goals) at 5v5 like Duppers did. Hell, Perron only has 1 more 5v5 goal than Duppers despite playing over 2.5x as many minutes this year. Even in his declining years, he is still better than just about anyone we are currently replacing him with in the top 6. He is just insanely effective playing with Crosby. 1+1=3.

Dupuis played 14 years in the league. Half of that time he was here. Until almost a decade into his career he was almost always a 3rd or 4th liner His career average shooting % is 9.9%. If you think there were only 11 better wingers in the league than him you are sadly mistaken. His goal jump came directly from getting an absurd amount of chances from playing with crosby. He was a shooter, not a passer, so he did not defer to crosby like most guys do.

basically he had one outlier year where he shot 14.3% in a very shortened season instead of 10% and everyone points how great he was... the next season his shooting percentage dipped to 7% before he was injured. He was never a top winger. he was a byproduct of Crosby, plain and simple. He could pass as a fill in on a top 2 line, but that was never the best use of his talents. You cannot say that a guy who never got past 25 goals scored in a season couldnt have been improved upon playing with a Center of Crosby's talent... People also forget the number of goals he scored playing the shift after PP's on the makeshift third lines he was better served in that role because outside of one season, he really wasnt a top caliber finisher ... the guy was an awesome utility player that we asked to much out of.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

Dupuis played 14 years in the league. Half of that time he was here. Until almost a decade into his career he was almost always a 3rd or 4th liner His career average shooting % is 9.9%. If you think there were only 11 better wingers in the league than him you are sadly mistaken. His goal jump came directly from getting an absurd amount of chances from playing with crosby. He was a shooter, not a passer, so he did not defer to crosby like most guys do.

basically he had one outlier year where he shot 14.3% in a very shortened season instead of 10% and everyone points how great he was... the next season his shooting percentage dipped to 7% before he was injured. He was never a top winger. he was a byproduct of Crosby, plain and simple. He could pass as a fill in on a top 2 line, but that was never the best use of his talents. You cannot say that a guy who never got past 25 goals scored in a season couldnt have been improved upon playing with a Center of Crosby's talent... People also forget the number of goals he scored playing the shift after PP's on the makeshift third lines he was better served in that role because outside of one season, he really wasnt a top caliber finisher ... the guy was an awesome utility player that we asked to much out of.

Anytime people try to talk about Dupuis as a legit top six winger, I always ask them why a guy like DB who loved Dupuis, could never find room for him on the top two PPs when the team was healthy.

The guy has had 4 PP goals in his entire career, and just 3 in the last 8 years.

While it's a testament to him scoring well at ES, it's also an indication of his true skill that he wasn't used on the PP unless injuries dictated that to be a necessity.

 

[billybudd]

Anytime people try to talk about Dupuis as a legit top six winger, I always ask them why a guy like DB who loved Dupuis, could never find room for him on the top two PPs when the team was healthy.

The guy has had 4 PP goals in his entire career, and just 3 in the last 8 years.

While it's a testament to him scoring well at ES, it's also an indication of his true skill that he wasn't used on the PP unless injuries dictated that to be a necessity.

I don't know where the idea that Dan "loved" Dupuis is coming from. According to Madden, Dan would have run Dupuis off the team in 2010 if not for intervention by 87. That #9 was Crosby's boy, not Bylsma's. That the next French player who has something positive to say about DB will be the first.

One explanation is that Dan was bullheaded and had odd, nonsensical ideas. We're talking about a guy who forcefed Beau Bennett to Sidney Crosby and Jarome Iginla to James Neal; two counter-intuitive combinations that possessed of zero wisdom and failed miserably.

Another explanation, if we're assuming that Bylsma's reasons are logical, is that he's ideal for the shift after a powerplay doesn't score. A lot of time there's a letdown when a powerplay fails. So you need players who won't manifest that and are responsible. Dupuis ticks both boxes. How many times after he got hurt did we get crushed on the next shift after the PP failed to score? I seem to remember that happening a lot.

A third is that maybe Dupuis just never complained about not being there. Dan was constructing powerplays with 5 left shots--when right-handed players were available--just so leftie X wouldn't whine.


In any event, Johnston, who seems to have a far better handle on what he's doing than DB ever did, did put Dupuis on his second unit, and if anyone's wondering, he's sitting at 6th in the NHL in 5 on 4 goals per minute (though only in 30 minutes), so it's not like there's anything indicating he lacks the "true skill" to be there.