Penguins almost surely will find spot for Pascal Dupuis | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 

Pascal Dupuis is the most emotional sports figure in this town since Jim Leyland. He never has been afraid to cry, never been afraid to show how much he cares about his sport and his team. I still can see his tears a day after the Boston Bruins swept the Penguins out of the 2013 Eastern Conference final. He thought he was going to have to leave as a free agent. I still can see his dismay in November 2014 when he announced he was done for the season and, likely, his career because of an ongoing problem with blood clots. It was the most somber Pittsburgh sports news conference since the Penguins announced Badger Bob Johnson had died of brain cancer at 60 in November 1991.

But there were no public tears from Dupuis Tuesday, his voice showing just the slightest hint of cracking when he talked of telling his teammates he was done playing hockey. Dupuis had made it back this season to play in 18 games, but he knew it was time to give up the fight. The chest pains he felt Dec. 1 in San Jose, forcing him to leave a game after two periods, made that clear. It was the same pain he felt when he was diagnosed with the blood clots, not just last November but also in January 2014, a few weeks after knee surgery ended his 2013-14 season after 39 games. Dupuis promised he wouldn’t put his wife and four kids through that again. Reluctantly, he promised himself.

“For me, listening to the doctors is never easy, telling me that I can’t do something,” Dupuis said before making his comeback this season. “I’ve been told my whole life that I can’t do this or that and I’ve tried to prove people wrong. But now it’s life. These are doctors, not doubters. That’s a big difference. The doctors are way smarter than I am.”

The docs cleared Dupuis to come back this season and thought they had found the right combination of meds to keep him safe on the ice. But he had a scare in early November in Edmonton, was hospitalized briefly and missed two games. Then, there were the chest pains in San Jose. Enough was enough.

Dupuis can take comfort knowing he did everything he could to come back. His plan was to finish out his contract, which pays him $4 million this season and $3 million next season, all guaranteed.

There won’t be a more emotional moment all season than when Dupuis, just back after missing the two games after the Edmonton issue, scored 13 seconds into a win Nov. 11 against the Montreal Canadiens, chipping in a cross-ice pass from longtime linemate and friend, Sidney Crosby. Consol Energy Center erupted. So did the Penguins bench. Dupuis and Marc-Andre Fleury are the two most-liked players on the team. It’s hard to find a better teammate in any sport.

“It gives you chills,” Dupuis said that night.

The good news is Dupuis, 36, almost certainly won’t leave the Penguins.

Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle are no fools. They will find a place for Dupuis, who could do anything from coaching or scouting to working in the front office or broadcast booth. Last season, after the blood clot, he worked as a quasi-assistant coach. “They actually listened to what I was bringing,” Dupuis said of Mike Johnston and his staff.

The better news is Dupuis almost certainly won’t leave Pittsburgh.

Sure, one reason for those tears after the Boston series was because the Penguins didn’t reach their goal of a Stanley Cup. Dupuis had been a big part of that talented team, scoring 20 goals in the lockout-shortened 48-game season and then seven more in the playoffs when the Penguins beat the New York Islanders and Ottawa Senators. They averaged 4.27 goals per game — the highest postseason average in 30 years — before running into the wall that was Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask.

But a bigger reason for Dupuis’ tears was he thought he was going to have to leave.

“Every day, I grocery shop,” he said. “I go to Starbucks. I take my kids to the park. I go to their hockey and gymnastics and cheerleading practices. We have great friends here away from hockey. We love it here.”

The Penguins kept Dupuis by giving him a four-year, $15 million contract. It was a nice reward for a player who might have been the best bargain in sports. Dupuis was due to make $1.5 million in 2012-13 before the lockout and made $1.5 million the season before when he had a career-best 25 goals. It’s easy to think the Penguins would have beaten the New York Rangers each of the past two playoff years if Dupuis had been healthy. He brought such energy and passion to the room.

Of course, it didn’t hurt Dupuis that Crosby liked having him and Chris Kunitz on his line, even more than future Hall of Famer Jarome Iginla.

“If there’s one guy who has believed in me the most during my career, it’s No. 87,” Dupuis said.

Dupuis played in games against Los Angeles and Anaheim over the weekend, but quickly realized it wasn’t fair to continue to put his family, friends and teammates through that stress. Crosby talked of there being “some relief that he doesn’t have to worry about that anymore.”

That didn’t make Dupuis’ announcement any easier on his teammates.

“I’m going to miss him a lot,” Crosby said. “He’s a great guy.”

Ron Cook: rcook@post-gazette.com. Ron Cook can be heard on the “Cook and Poni” show weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on 93.7 The Fan.

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