Whether Pascal Dupuis can play next season remains up in the air

Penguins defenseman Kris Letang has been cleared for full workouts and is progressing well from a concussion, but the news isn’t as positive on veteran winger Pascal Dupuis (blood clot), at least not to the point the Penguins had hoped yet, as whether Dupuis will be able to play next season remains unclear for now.

GM Jim Rutherford said today the Penguins are determining whether there’s a medication that will allow Dupuis enough recovery time to play everyday. That has the Penguins in a holding pattern for now and the team hopes to have more clarity on Dupuis by the time free agency begins.

“On May 20, they [Doctors] started doing testing, checking to see where the blood clot was, or if it was there, all these things,” Jim Rutherford via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “The next step is, there are certain medications you can go on that may allow you to play or may not allow you to play. That’s the next step now, to see if there’s a medication that gives him enough recovery time that he’s available to play every day. That’s what we’re waiting to see.”

Internally the Penguins are cautiously optimistic things will workout and Dupuis will be a full go next season. However, If Dupuis can’t play next season, the Penguins will be able to slide his $3.75 million cap hit onto long-term injured reserve.

The Penguins currently have around $58.3 million committed to 14 players (1-way contracts) for next season.