This article waxes nostalgic about his heyday in Pittsburgh and how essential he was in their 2016/2017 cup runs. Yohe describes him as the best defensive defenseman in franchise history at his prime. He notes that Dumoulin bolstered Kris Letang when Letang was not at his best. Yohe describes him as the substance backing the flash of the Penguins.
A lot of the chatter around the Dumoulin signing has been around his recent decline. This is largely due to an ankle ligament injury in 2019. Yohe says his skating hasn’t been the same since.
I think he will benefit from limited, sheltered minutes, and that he will bring a good veteran presence to the blue line. Is he an improvement over Soucy? Time will tell.
This article holds him in high regard, especially in his prime. Hopefully a change of scenery will do him well and he finds some of his old form. We’ll be rooting for him.
Welcome to the deep, Brian!
2 comments
He doesn’t need to be an improvement of Soucy really. Just a competent D that can fill in and give us a bit more time for our prospect pool to move along. Soucy wanted term we weren’t going to give him. Also just noticed he has a NTC for the first two years. No way we were giving him that.
Yeah, this is why he was one of my favorite Penguins. So quietly underrated for most of his career.
Hope he’s able to contribute to the Kraken!