Dumoulin will draw on experience of layoff if Penguins season resumes

Brian Dumoulin learned valuable lessons while recovering from ankle surgery.

The Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman had surgery Dec. 1 to repair lacerated tendons in his left ankle, an injury that occurred 35 seconds into his first shift of a 5-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Nov. 30. Dumoulin missed 37 games, returning March 3.

It was challenging, Dumoulin said. He had never been away from the ice for that long in his NHL career and was unsure if he could perform at the same level when he returned.

But those concerns were put to rest after his first game, when he had an assist and was plus-3 in 19:52 of ice time in a 7-3 win against the Ottawa Senators that ended a six-game losing streak. In his five games back, he averaged 21:01 of ice time and looked comfortable in his usual spot, on the left side of the Penguins top defense pair with Kris Letang.

That high level of play after so much time off has Dumoulin confident he can play at a high level if the NHL season resumes after being paused since March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus.

"It's sort of similar to what's going on now, except I'm not nursing an injury," Dumoulin said Tuesday. "I at least proved to myself that I could not skate for three months and still come back and play. Obviously I don't want that to ever happen or to have to be in that scenario, but it definitely does help. It helps mentally that I've come back from that before and we're kind of going through a similar thing right now."

The 28-year-old is in his seventh NHL season and said he understands how he now could be considered one of Pittsburgh's leaders.

Dumoulin said his injury also changed how he approaches the idea of leadership. He said he didn't realize how lonely recovery could be and now wants to take it upon himself make sure no player ever feels forgotten.

"Our group did a great job of that," Dumoulin said. "I was very thankful for every guy on the team that were always coming by whenever I was doing rehab or anything like that, just having a conversation with me, because I don't get to see them a lot. Even though I'm in the rink around the same time as them, they're doing something as a group and I have to do something individually.

"That can weigh on you, especially when you're doing it for months. I'm very thankful for everyone on our team in including me and helping me still feel part of the family. Very thankful for that."

Dumoulin said he felt fully recovered upon returning and if the season resumes doesn't anticipate any lingering effects from the surgery.

"It's very weird," he said. "It's very strange, but I was very lucky and I'm grateful that I was able to get those five games in before the break. Just mentally I think that is going to benefit me, being able to know what my routine was, what I had to do to get back. I felt like when I was playing, I was getting back to being a very solid player.

"So it showed me that I could still come back from an injury like that. I had never been out that long before in my career, so I had to prove to myself that I would be able to come back and still compete and play at a high level in the most important and crucial part of the season. So I think I did that. I think I was satisfied with how I came back."

His injury and the season pause also had another benefit. Because of them he has been able to spend time with his son, Brayden, that otherwise wouldn't have been available. Brayden was born Nov. 3, exactly four weeks before Dumoulin's surgery.

"I'm very fortunate," Dumoulin said. "It was very unlucky where I had my injury, and obviously I wish I could have played every game that I missed, but in that time I was able to spend a lot of time at home with Brayden and see him develop. He turned six months on Sunday, so it was pretty cool to not miss much of his life so far, especially early on in his life."