Pascal Dupuis announced his playing days were done yesterday, at the age of 36, after almost two years of being in blood-clot limbo. It's a sad ending, but Dupuis has provided us all with so many smiles, why not revisit some of the good times rather than just dwell on the ending?

Pranks

A big prankster on a team that had more than it's share in the early part of the 2010's, Dupuis was always in the middle of something.

Commenter BBnG reminded us of this 2011 article with Sean Conboy in Pittsburgh Magazine:

Pascal Dupuis is in Sidney Crosby’s bathroom, and he’s up to no good. The world’s greatest hockey player has stepped out of his hotel room for a few minutes, and it’s the perfect window for Dupuis to commence the delicate engineering of a booby trap. He lifts the heavy porcelain lid off the toilet, looks down into the tank and chuckles.



At this point in the story, you should be aware that Dupuis has four children, two dogs, a cat and a wife whom he chats with via Skype for hours when he’s on the road. He’s anchored to a cross necklace that he kisses four times before the puck drops, once for each child. The first two things he brings up when he’s asked why he took less money to stay in Pittsburgh are good neighbors and babysitters.



He is, for all intents and purposes, a wholesome All-American-French-Canadian dad. Which is precisely why you should never, ever leave your hotel room unattended to even the nicest of hockey players. At this moment, Dupuis is jangling nozzles, reattaching tubes and doing all sorts of nefarious reconfiguring to the throne of the NHL’s golden boy.



"Sometimes I mess with him simply to mess with him," Dupuis explains. "Sid is pretty superstitious, to say the least. There are a couple things that are off-limits and a couple things you can have fun with."



The lavatory, apparently, is the latter. Dupuis carefully replaces the lid and takes a step back to admire his masterpiece.



"You have to take the tube out of the tank and tilt it perfectly toward where the person stands," Dupuis says. "Then you put the lid back on but make sure that the end of the tube is sticking out slightly so the person won’t notice."



When Crosby returns, Dupuis is innocently talking to his wife on his laptop, as usual. After a while, Crosby enters the bathroom. The door clatters shut. Will he notice? Silence. Dupuis covers his mouth. Anticipation mounts.



Whoosh.



Pandemonium. - See more at: http://www.pittsburghmagazine.com/Pittsburgh-Magazine/January-2012/Pascal-Dupuis-Interview/#sthash.KS3zwDI0.dpuf

Pascal Dupuis is in Sidney Crosby’s bathroom, and he’s up to no good. The world’s greatest hockey player has stepped out of his hotel room for a few minutes, and it’s the perfect window for Dupuis to commence the delicate engineering of a booby trap. He lifts the heavy porcelain lid off the toilet, looks down into the tank and chuckles.



At this point in the story, you should be aware that Dupuis has four children, two dogs, a cat and a wife whom he chats with via Skype for hours when he’s on the road. He’s anchored to a cross necklace that he kisses four times before the puck drops, once for each child. The first two things he brings up when he’s asked why he took less money to stay in Pittsburgh are good neighbors and babysitters.



He is, for all intents and purposes, a wholesome All-American-French-Canadian dad. Which is precisely why you should never, ever leave your hotel room unattended to even the nicest of hockey players. At this moment, Dupuis is jangling nozzles, reattaching tubes and doing all sorts of nefarious reconfiguring to the throne of the NHL’s golden boy.



"Sometimes I mess with him simply to mess with him," Dupuis explains. "Sid is pretty superstitious, to say the least. There are a couple things that are off-limits and a couple things you can have fun with."



The lavatory, apparently, is the latter. Dupuis carefully replaces the lid and takes a step back to admire his masterpiece.



"You have to take the tube out of the tank and tilt it perfectly toward where the person stands," Dupuis says. "Then you put the lid back on but make sure that the end of the tube is sticking out slightly so the person won’t notice."



When Crosby returns, Dupuis is innocently talking to his wife on his laptop, as usual. After a while, Crosby enters the bathroom. The door clatters shut. Will he notice? Silence. Dupuis covers his mouth. Anticipation mounts.



Whoosh.



Pandemonium. - See more at: http://www.pittsburghmagazine.com/Pittsburgh-Magazine/January-2012/Pascal-Dupuis-Interview/#sthash.KS3zwDI0.dpuf

ascal Dupuis is in Sidney Crosby’s bathroom, and he’s up to no good. The world’s greatest hockey player has stepped out of his hotel room for a few minutes, and it’s the perfect window for Dupuis to commence the delicate engineering of a booby trap. He lifts the heavy porcelain lid off the toilet, looks down into the tank and chuckles.



At this point in the story, you should be aware that Dupuis has four children, two dogs, a cat and a wife whom he chats with via Skype for hours when he’s on the road. He’s anchored to a cross necklace that he kisses four times before the puck drops, once for each child. The first two things he brings up when he’s asked why he took less money to stay in Pittsburgh are good neighbors and babysitters.



He is, for all intents and purposes, a wholesome All-American-French-Canadian dad. Which is precisely why you should never, ever leave your hotel room unattended to even the nicest of hockey players. At this moment, Dupuis is jangling nozzles, reattaching tubes and doing all sorts of nefarious reconfiguring to the throne of the NHL’s golden boy.



"Sometimes I mess with him simply to mess with him," Dupuis explains. "Sid is pretty superstitious, to say the least. There are a couple things that are off-limits and a couple things you can have fun with."



The lavatory, apparently, is the latter. Dupuis carefully replaces the lid and takes a step back to admire his masterpiece.



"You have to take the tube out of the tank and tilt it perfectly toward where the person stands," Dupuis says. "Then you put the lid back on but make sure that the end of the tube is sticking out slightly so the person won’t notice."



When Crosby returns, Dupuis is innocently talking to his wife on his laptop, as usual. After a while, Crosby enters the bathroom. The door clatters shut. Will he notice? Silence. Dupuis covers his mouth. Anticipation mounts.



Whoosh.



Pandemonium. - See more at: http://www.pittsburghmagazine.com/Pittsburgh-Magazine/January-2012/Pascal-Dupuis-Interview/#sthash.KS3zwDI0.dpuf

Pascal Dupuis is in Sidney Crosby's bathroom, and he's up to no good. The world's greatest hockey player has stepped out of his hotel room for a few minutes, and it's the perfect window for Dupuis to commence the delicate engineering of a booby trap. He lifts the heavy porcelain lid off the toilet, looks down into the tank and chuckles.



At this point in the story, you should be aware that Dupuis has four children, two dogs, a cat and a wife whom he chats with via Skype for hours when he's on the road. He's anchored to a cross necklace that he kisses four times before the puck drops, once for each child. The first two things he brings up when he's asked why he took less money to stay in Pittsburgh are good neighbors and babysitters.



He is, for all intents and purposes, a wholesome All-American-French-Canadian dad. Which is precisely why you should never, ever leave your hotel room unattended to even the nicest of hockey players. At this moment, Dupuis is jangling nozzles, reattaching tubes and doing all sorts of nefarious reconfiguring to the throne of the NHL's golden boy.



"Sometimes I mess with him simply to mess with him," Dupuis explains. "Sid is pretty superstitious, to say the least. There are a couple things that are off-limits and a couple things you can have fun with."



The lavatory, apparently, is the latter. Dupuis carefully replaces the lid and takes a step back to admire his masterpiece.



"You have to take the tube out of the tank and tilt it perfectly toward where the person stands," Dupuis says. "Then you put the lid back on but make sure that the end of the tube is sticking out slightly so the person won't notice."



When Crosby returns, Dupuis is innocently talking to his wife on his laptop, as usual. After a while, Crosby enters the bathroom. The door clatters shut. Will he notice? Silence. Dupuis covers his mouth. Anticipation mounts.



Whoosh.



Pandemonium.

Then there was that time James Neal was having the NHL Network follow him around for 36 hours, a perfect opportunity to mess with him by stringing up some cans and tying them under his car.

Fun with Potash

In what became a running gag, Dupuis and Root Sports interviewer Dan Potash over the years. Their rapport was great, highlighted by the traditional ending of Pascal drawing out the "Thanks Daaaan" and usually deadpanning it.

In fact in this video showing the Pens picking on Potash over the years, a large percentage of it is Dupuis related.

The first Pensburgh meme

This one goes back a long time, and I can't even remember who drew this, but a Pensburgh commenter created this gem for me after I commented in 2009 about the lack of hands Dupuis would show. The meme dates back at least from November 2009, when I made this hilarious comedy post.

Steelers helmet at the Winter Classic

One of the few good things to happen at this event, Dupuis took a twirl on the ice on Heinz Field wearing a Steelers helmet.





Pulling out his own gibbs

Ouch, ouch, ouch

"F you, Geno"

Maybe the funniest line of the HBO 24/7 series that followed the Pens and Capitals around.

(NSFW language, obviously)

Ice Man

As Natasha reminded me, who could ever forget the Ice Man? Pascal Dupuis never forgot he was an adult playing a kid's game for a living.





The Family Man

The reason he's retiring, to ensure his health for these guys. It was the only choice to make.





Day with Lord Stanley

Dupuis was only a 4th liner when the Penguins won the Cup in 2009, scoring 0 points in 16 playoff games and really still an after-thought on that team. Still, he won the Stanley Cup.

With his retirement, the Pens only have 6 players (Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Marc-Andre Fleury, Chris Kunitz, Kris Letang and Rob Scuderi) left from the team that won the Cup.

And the tattoo to prove it

Pretty boss

Assorted Hightlights

Remember that game when Bill Guerin scored on the Bruins with 0.4 seconds left? I didn't until Darnay reminded me. Dupuis scored the game-winner to make it count as more than just a footnote.

Career highlights, fun!

To clean out that song, here's another one with some Foo Fighters.

And a few GIFs

A nice little finish on a pass from Olli Maatta in October 2014.

Nice pass from Blake Comeau last season

The last goal

After missing 2 games to get examined in November, Dupuis returned to the lineup. His last goal ends up being perfect.

#1 It's against Montreal, the favorite team of any French Canadian boy

#2 It's naturally setup by Crosby

#3 It shows how important Dupuis always was to return and get thrown right back into the fire

#4 It was 13 seconds into the game

#5 The joy of his celebration showed how much he loves playing the game

It's sad he had to have a final goal like this, but all things considered what a magical one to go out on.

Career resurgence

It's almost unheard of that an NHL player has his best career years at Age 33 and 34, but Pascal Dupuis did just that.

For an article I wrote (but can't find) this chart shows total goals from the start of the 2011-12 season to the end of the lockout shortened 2013 season for players who killed penalties. In the entire league, only Jonathan Toews scored more goals over this span than Dupuis. And, due to injuries, this wasn't all Sidney Crosby related - Dupuis only played 521 minutes with Crosby and played 1,271 without Sid (due to injuries).

It can't be under-stated that Dupuis was really, really good in this stretch of time. He was so good that the Pens couldn't move him off the first line, even for a future Hall-of-Famer in Jarome Iginla , though Dan Bylsma might want that one back.

(Note: I think to make this list a player had to have at least one SHG. But even a guy like Alex Ovechkin only had 41 ES goals in this period, though Steven Stamkos did have 67 ES goals and 0 SHG).

Fast fact: Dupuis only scored 3 career power play goals as a Penguin. He was a very productive player, and it came almost entirely at even-strength.

Season Reviews:

Here's how we ranked him at Pensburgh!

2010-11 ; old buddy FrankD lauds Dupuis' durability, consistency and intensity

2011-12 ; a career season of 25 goals and 34 assists

2012-13 ; none because I was lazy after the lockout! But he still scored 20



2013-14 ; Natasha recaps the season that ends with the ACL injury

Final Stat-line and place in Penguin history



Pascal Dupuis had a great career with the Penguins after being just a throw-in for the Marian Hossa trade. For his Penguin career he ends with the following regular season stats, with his ranking for the team in parenthesis:

452 games played (21st all-time in franchise history, ironically 1 behind his long-time teammate Craig Adams)

109 goals (t-26th)

138 assists (33rd)

247 points (33rd)

8 short-handed goals (t-8th)

21 game-winning goals (t-12th, in good company with Alex Kovalev and Ron Francis as the others tied here)

+82 plus/minus (7th)

For his entire NHL career, Dupuis went: 871 gp, 190g + 219a = 409 points.

Congrats to him on a great run and hopefully a rewarding career and life in the future. We're lucky Dupuis was a player in the internet era to have all this documented, he was quite the character and we were lucky for having him play on the team for so long. On a day like today with the sadness of the way his career ended, I wanted to re-hash all these fun memories to show all the good times we had along the way.

What did we miss?

Since we're dealing with parts of 9 seasons, we doubtlessly missed some good stuff. Feel free to put your favorite Dupuis moment in the comments to share with the community.