Are You Cullen Dumo Underrated?

(Photo by @__Kessel on twitter)

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StartFragment On a team where the majority of your salary cap is taken up by names such as Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel, Kris Letang, and Marc-Andre Fleury, it's really hard for role players to get the recognition they deserve. That's what the purpose of this article is going to do. Every player plays a role on their team and every piece is important. But the ones who stand out among those heavy names and exceed expectations are the ones you must admire. I am sure anyone can name multiple players on that roster that have played an integral role to the Pens' season. But two guys have stood out to me among the roster and it can't go remised. Let's start with journeyman, 39 year old center Matt Cullen. Boy, he's like the gift that keeps on giving. I'm going to be blunt. I remember seeing that the Pens had signed Matt Cullen to a contract and I thought to myself "What the hell?" But there is no arguing that Cullen has been an unreal surprise for the organization. After scoring his eleventh goal of the season Saturday afternoon in New York, Cullen now has 22 points on the year. Let's take a moment to remember some vital information here. Matt Cullen is 39 years of age and has been glued to the third and fourth lines all season. When the Penguins didn't have infinitive amounts of their Wilkes-Barre Scranton roster up here, Cullen was playing on a line with Malkin and Kessel and arguably doing it well. Cullen had the painstaking job of mentoring former Penguin Sergei Plotnikov until head coach Mike Sullivan took over and began to scratch Plotnikov on a consistent basis until he was traded. He's been a mentor to all of these young guns that have been up and down from WBS all season long. Cullen's long playing career has only seen him get 1 Stanley Cup and that was with Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford on their former team in Carolina for the Hurricanes. He'd love to be able to close out his career with a championship, or possibly resign with the Penguins in the offseason and chase another Cup or two. Cullen has provided both offensively and leadership wise for the Penguins, but I don't think anyone is a bigger surprise than defenseman Brian Dumoulin. Most of you know that he's my favorite player so it's likely that this portion of the article may come off as biased, but I don't think there is an argument against Dumoulin and his unreal play this season. Despite his goose egg that he's laid in the goal column, you can't fault his defense for a second. The puck just isn't bouncing the right way offensively, but he is making sure that his defensive play doesn't go unnoticed. He played stellar in last season's playoffs and got the opportunity to be on the opening night roster and hasn't even played as a liability defensively. He had found chemistry with defenseman Ben Lovejoy until Lovejoy was injured a few weeks ago. He began playing with Trevor Daley a little before Lovejoy was injured and has thrived no matter who his partner is and hasn't changed his style of play. Once considered the lesser of the two defensive prospects between himself and Scott Harrington, the Pens decided to stick with 'Dumo' and trade away Harrington to Toronto for Kessel.

Dumoulin's play over the past couple games, including last night against the Islanders at Consol, has been stellar. Although he missed a wide open net late in the third, he threw the puck at the net in the first period and it was tipped in by Kunitz. That's what the Penguins need to do more often. Throw the puck on the net and try to get a deflection and Dumoulin perfected that last night.

Dumoulin hasn't disappointed and neither has Cullen. You've got to give them the recognition they deserve considering they play minor roles in relation to the team, but have been able to strive way beyond what anyone could imagine.EndFragment