CRANBERRY, Pa. -- Brian Dumoulin tried not to think about how the Penguins' regular-season finale in Columbus on Thursday could have been his last game in a Penguins uniform.
"If I'm thinking about that, then I'm not thinking about the game," Dumoulin said of his mindset. "So I mean for me, I just try to focus on what's in front of me and what tomorrow looks like. I'm a very day-to-day person."
Now that the Penguins' season is over, after the team failed to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 2005-06, the thought that Dumoulin may have played his last game as a Penguin has to be creeping into his mind a little bit.
Dumoulin, who turns 32 this offseason, is an unrestricted free agent this summer. Given that the Penguins don't have a general manager right now, it's impossible to say what Dumoulin's future is with the Penguins. But it's reasonable to assume that when a new general manager comes in and wants to retool the team under his or her vision, and likely would want to get younger, Dumoulin may not have a spot on this team any longer.
He's hoping that's not the case. Dumoulin "without a doubt" wants to remain a Penguin.
"I love this group. I love the guys," Dumoulin said at the Penguins' locker room cleanout day at the Lemieux Complex on Saturday. "This is a family to me, these guys have gone through a lot. I know each guy's personality -- what gets them going, what doesn't. We spend so much time here in this room. I mean, it'd be kind of hard to leave."
Dumoulin has been with the Penguins since 2012, when he was acquired in a draft day trade with the Hurricanes. That was the deal in which the Penguins shipped Jordan Staal off to Raleigh, receiving Brandon Sutter, a first-round pick (Derrick Pouliot) and Dumoulin in return. Dumoulin was the Hurricanes' second-round pick in 2009, and had just finished his junior season at Boston College. He wasn't a no-name prospect, but he was certainly seen as just a throw-in in that trade, given the other pieces included in it.
In the end, Dumoulin ended up having the biggest impact of any player the Penguins got that day.
Dumoulin ranks 15th all-time in games played in Penguins franchise history, with 546. That's a mark that ranks fifth in franchise history among defensemen, behind only Kris Letang (1,005), Brooks Orpik (703), Ron Stackhouse (621) and Dave Burrows (583). Dumoulin also ranks 10th all-time in postseason games in franchise history with 81. He ranks third among defensemen, behind Letang (149) and Orpik (92).
After making his NHL debut in the 2013-14 season, Dumoulin is the fourth-longest tenured Penguin among active players, behind just Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Letang.
Dumoulin had a key role in the Penguins' back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2016 and 2017, playing top-line minutes. In those prime years, he was an effective of a defensive defenseman as you could get.
As someone who has been with the Penguins his entire NHL career, missing the playoffs is a foreign feeling for him.
"It's disappointing," Dumoulin said. "It'll be tough to watch (the playoffs), if I do. It's the best time to play, it's when hopefully everyone plays their best, I play my best, is playoff hockey. You're playing for so much. You look back at the season, you think about how close the run was down at the end, and how many games we needed to win. Just some of the games, it's like 'Wow, every game really does mean something.' You can say it during the season, but you don't really understand it until you're in a race like this."
It's been easy to pile on Dumoulin this season. He's gotten older, and his play has noticeably dropped off, though he did seem to improve over the course of the season. He still managed to play a full 82-game season for the first time in his career, and playing big minutes at that. With 1,693 minute played this season, he logged more ice time than any other skate by a 41-minute margin. His 1,402 five-on-five minutes led the team by 161 minutes. He spent much of the season on the top defense pairing, though was moved off the top pairing for stretches throughout the season.
If Dumoulin's time in Pittsburgh is done, his legacy if anything is going to be that of Letang's preferred defense partner. Letang has been in the league for 17 seasons and had countless partners in that time. His longest-standing partner is Dumoulin. And if you ask Letang, he hopes they can keep that pairing going.
"He's the guy I'm the most comfortable to play with," Letang said in Columbus on Thursday. "My best years in the league were spent beside him. He's such a good partner to be paired with. It's not only that -- he's vocal, he's a guy that understands the game really well. In the room he's a guy that people want to gravitate around. I just hope that he's with us next year. I think he's proven that he's a top defender in this league."
For someone who has been in the league as long as Letang, that's a pretty meaningful statement, that his best years were spent beside Dumoulin. I asked Dumoulin how that makes him feel, to have someone of Letang's stature say that about him.
"It means a lot," Dumoulin said. "It goes by fast, I'll say that. I mean, he's such a talented player. It's been a pleasure playing with him every year. Every opportunity I get to play with him is great. He's a guy that always wants the puck. He's fun, he's communicative, and always great to watch out there on the ice. I think we balance each other out really well. We were playing some really good hockey towards the end."
While Dumoulin's on-ice contributions left room to be desired this season, his off-ice contributions didn't. Penguins players voted Dumoulin as the No. 1 "glue guy" in the locker room this season as someone who does a lot of the little things to keep the team together. Dumoulin, who has worn an 'A' on his sweater for the last four seasons as an alternate captain, is one of the leaders on the team. He's someone who can be counted on to lift his teammates up and lighten the mood in the locker room when needed. And of course, he's been the player entrusted with the aux cord as the locker room DJ for most of his time as a Penguin.
It's likely time for the Penguins and Dumoulin to part ways. If they do, the Penguins will have a void to fill on the ice as far as Letang's preferred partner, as well as off the ice with Dumoulin's leadership and everything else he brings to the locker room.
