During Brian Dumoulin's day with the Stanley Cup at Boston College this past summer, his best friend and former teammate Parker Milner talked about the kind of player the defenseman had been during his time with the Eagles.
Dumoulin showing the upside in his two-way game
"He was amazing. He was one of those players that was so good in his defensive zone but was really offensive, and Penguins fans maybe haven't seen the best of his offensive capabilities yet," Milner said.
"But I think he'll start to get some more goals because here, he was on our first power play but that didn't take away from his defensive game that Penguins fans see night in, night out."
Milner couldn't have been more right.
Dumoulin took his overall two-way game to another level this season, establishing new career highs with five goals and 18 points. Before this year, Dumoulin did not score more than once a season.
Dumoulin has built on that in the playoffs, as he has gotten on the scoresheet in all three games of the Penguins' First Round matchup with the Philadelphia Flyers. He's recorded multiple points in two of those games, collecting a pair of helpers in Game 1 and registering a goal and an assist in Game 3.
"Dumo is a real valuable player for us," head coach Mike Sullivan said. "He's a very important player for us. We rely on him in so many situations. He plays against the other team's top players. He's a very good defending defenseman. He uses his mobility extremely well. He's got a good stick. And then when he has the ability to help us with the offense, it's a big bonus for us. That's an area of his game where we think he's capable as well."
Dumoulin insists that he hasn't really changed his game, choosing instead to credit the forwards and defense partner Kris Letang for helping him produce. But as Sullivan said, Dumoulin's mobility has been a big factor. At 6-foot-4, Dumoulin is able to cover a lot of ice and he uses that ability to both get back and defend and jump up into the rush when he has the chance.
"I just try to chip in as much as I can," Dumoulin said. "Any time there's an opportunity that presents itself - I mean, I'm not the type of guy that'll force it, obviously. Playing with Tanger, he's the guy that can drive the offense for us. I'm just trying to chip in any way I can and the forwards have done a good job of scoring goals for us."
Casey DeSmith grew up playing amateur hockey with Dumoulin, as both of them are from New England. When they were about 13 years old, DeSmith remembers Dumoulin grew about seven inches over the summer and returned the next season for their first year of midget hockey with the Sea Coast Spartans a completely different player.
"He was way faster and more skilled and it literally happened overnight," DeSmith said with a laugh. "He left for the summer then he came back and he was by far the best player on the team. Everyone was like what on earth happened? Nowadays he's the type of defenseman that anybody wants and I would say especially in the playoffs. He scored a big goal last playoffs and just got one the other day. He's able to put the puck in the net in big games. He's smart. He blocks a lot of shots, which as a goalie, I really appreciate. Then he just makes the smart play. The guy knows how to play those situations that are tough, whether it's 5-on-3 or 2-on-1, he just knows how to play it. He makes the goalie's job easier, for sure."
It can be easy to forget how young Dumoulin is with how he has quietly accomplished so much. At just 26 years old, he's a two-time Stanley Cup champion that has developed into a top-pair defenseman, and has proven capable of anchoring the blue line when Letang is out.
That's why the Pens locked up Dumoulin to a six-year contract extension with an average annual value of $4.1 million last July. And at the time, he spoke about how he wanted to keep improving and how there was a lot of good hockey in front of him. Dumoulin has certainly done that, and the best part is that there's still room to grow.
"He's another guy on our roster that's still a young guy and he has so much upside in his overall two-way game," Sullivan said. "He's always a solid defending defenseman for us, but when he can help us with the offense and jump in at the right times, I think that makes our team that much better."
Dumoulin's confidence is certainly high right now, and he just wants to focus on building it every time he and Letang take the ice.
"I want to try to continue to play the best I can, obviously helping Tanger out as much as I can," Dumoulin said. "I think we've done a good job this series of talking and helping each other out and getting out of situations. We need to continue to do that. Obviously as the series goes on games get tighter, games get harder and it's tough to play in those games. But the more that we can talk, the better we'll be."
