PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Penguins locked up another elite young player long term and kept a key player off the market Tuesday, agreeing to terms with defenceman Kris Letang and re-signing forward Pascal Dupuis. David Wells Yankees Jersey . A finalist for the Norris Trophy as the NHLs top defenceman, Letang received an eight-year, $58 million contract extension. He would have entered the final season of an existing contract that carried an annual salary-cap hit of $3.5 million. That will now jump to $7.25 beginning in 2014-15. Dupuis potentially couldve been a free agent this week and cashed on his 11-point post-season, but chose to stay to sign a $15 million, four-year deal. Letang, 26, tied for the scoring lead among NHL defencemen last season with 38 points in 35 games. He has 44 goals and 165 assists in 385 career games over six-plus seasons. Letang joins star centres Sidney Crosby (12 years, $104.4 million) and Evgeni Malkin (eight years, $76 million) as players the Penguins have given long-term contracts to in the past 13 months. Under the collective bargaining agreement, Letang cannot sign until Friday. The pact -- the longest allowable by terms of the new CBA -- will run through the 2021-22 season, when the 6-foot, 201-pound native of Montreal will be 35. Beginning in 2014-15, the Penguins will be committing $25.45 million of salary cap space to just three players for every season until 2021-22. For the 2014-15 season alone -- counting contracts given wingers James Neal and Chris Kunitz, defenceman Paul Martin and goalie Marc-Andre Fleury -- the organization already has $44.3 million of cap space accounted for just seven players. The salary cap for the 2013-14 season is projected at $63.4 million, although it is expected to increase dramatically the following year. The swift and skilled Letang is one of the NHLs top offensive defencemen. But at times, the former third-round pick has been criticized for play in the defensive end -- most recently during a stunning sweep of the Penguins by the Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference finals. Letang had no points in the series and was a minus-5 over the first two games. During Pittsburghs run to the Stanley Cup in 2009, Letang had 13 points, tying for the post-season lead among defencemen with four goals. Over the past three seasons, Letang leads all NHL defencemen in assists (107). His 0.77 points-per-game average over that span ranks second to Ottawas Erik Karlsson for players at that position. Since the end of the regular season, general manager Ray Shero has said extending Letang was a priority. Before the Penguins were swept by Boston, they defeated the Islanders and Senators in the first and second rounds, respectively. Though he and agent Kent Hughes talked for a while, Shero could have traded Letang during the NHL draft Sunday. A similar scenario played out last summer, when centre Jordan Staal rejected a 10-year contract offer and Shero dealt him to the Carolina Hurricanes in a trade announced from the podium. It never reached that point with Letang. Pittsburgh also didnt have to deal with replacing Dupuis. The 34-year-old winger was third on the team in goals, tied for third with 38 points and led the league with a plus-31 rating, the first Penguins to pull off that feat since Ron Francis did during the 1994-95 season. He is also a key penalty-killer, who blocked 36 shots and is tied for the NHL lead with eight short-handed goals over the past three years. Dupuis, who also helped the Penguins hoist the Cup four years ago, has 175 goals and 374 points in his career with Minnesota, the New York Rangers, Atlanta and Pittsburgh. Mariano Rivera Yankees Jersey . -- The Atlanta Braves are facing the possibility of losing another pitcher for the season after general manager Frank Wren said Saturday that Cory Gearrin has a serious injury to his right elbow. Mike Mussina Yankees Jersey . Although head coach Randy Carlyle jokingly wondered how much actual training Bolland got done while in London. "I dont know how much training goes on when you go back to the junior team that you played for so I wouldnt read too much into that," laughed Carlyle after the Maple Leafs were put through an up-tempo practice that concluded with a 10-minute bag skate on Thursday. https://www.cheapyankees.com/2161g-clint-frazier-jersey-yankees.html . Kyrie Irving and the Cleveland Cavaliers were left fretting over an MRI on the stars left knee. Paul George scored 21 points, Roy Hibbert added 19 and the Pacers used a dominant fourth quarter to blow out the Cavaliers 91-76 on Tuesday The Pacers (25-5) have won eight in a row over Cleveland, their longest active streak against any opponent.NEW YORK – This was nothing new to the L.A. Kings. Time and time again in these playoffs, theyve stared adversity dead in the eye and come out on top. So when Justin Williams, holder of two Cups himself, looked around the dressing room at his teammates after 40 minutes of Game 2 – his team trailing by two goals for the fourth time in three games – he saw not doubt or fear of the Rangers snatching momentum of the 2014 Final, but belief - cold, hard belief. “Were not a team that wilts under the pressure,” said Williams, owner of 23 points in the playoffs. “Were a team that goes out and wants to make a difference and gets it. I feel thats a big reason why weve made it so far.” Three grueling series this spring, all stretched to the max opposite the very best the West had to offer, each dotted with varying threats to a second Cup in three years. But at every point along the way these Kings have found a little something extra – another gear, another goal, another save – unwavering in their ability to overcome a challenge, however tall or insurmountable it may seem. “Every series, every game, every year you play in the league you go through experiences that ultimately will help you in certain situations and I feel together as a team weve been through almost all them you could imagine and weve pulled through,” said Williams, who boasts 949 career NHL games, including 112 in the postseason. “So when were down do we feel comfortable? No, we dont feel comfortable, but we feel like were able to come back. “Belief is a very underrated attribute and we have that going on within our team right now.” It was another 2-0 pit at Staples Center on Saturday evening – the third such hole in as many games – just another obstacle for the Western Conference champs. But in familiar fashion (they did it against the Sharks, Ducks and Hawks) the silver and black forced their way back into the fold, ultimately dashing the Rangers hopes yet again in (double) overtime. Remarkably, the Kings have yet to lead at any point in regulation in the Final and still boast a commanding 2-0 series lead. “We find ourselves in the same situation regurgitating the same mumbo jumbo everry time, but were in a results oriented league and the results are were up 2-0,” said Williams. Babe Ruth Jersey. “I dont care how we got here.” Another Cup, thus, appears close at hand for the 32-year-old and an always plucky bunch from southern California. Forty-eight teams have taken a 2-0 series lead in the Final since 1939 with all but five going on to capture the games top prize, including L.A. in 2012. But for whatever history might say the Kings know full well that theres plenty of game left, their own checkered track record in these playoffs the best proof of that. It was L.A. on the mat and apparently down for the count in round one against the Sharks – they rallied with four straight wins – and then seemingly in control against the Ducks in round two – they were up 2-0 in the series before losing three straight – before another dose of Game 7 magic was required. “Obviously momentums a huge part of playoff hockey and once a team has it its important to try to switch the tide in your favour as quick as possible,” said Dwight King from the teams hotel, sitting directly across from Central Park, his controversial third period goal timely in the 5-4 victory. “Teams dont make it this far out of luck,” Williams added. “Do we feel weve broken them? No, absolutely not. We should know that more than anybody; that its tough to put a team down. Especially when youre playing for the Stanley Cup its going to be hard to put a team down, but we need to try to step a little bit more on the throat tomorrow.” Finding their way to the borough of Manhattan on Sunday afternoon (after an early cross-country flight), the city buzzing with a flurry excitement at the Rangers first appearance in the Final in 20 years, the Kings exuded a quiet, knowing confidence, mindful of the improved start theyll need at MSG on Monday night and yet self-assured in their ability to handle whatever challenges Game 3 might throw their way. Williams knew what he saw of his teammates in that dressing room just a day earlier – “I saw a prepared team that knew what they had to do” – and he knows as well as anyone that more, much more will be needed in the days ahead. ' ' '