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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. 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.Chicago Bulls Pro Shop . Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek defeated Nenad Zimonjic and Ilija Bozoljac 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (4) on the indoor hard-court at Belgrade Arena. The victory improved the Czech pairs impressive cup doubles record to 14-1. Fake Bulls Jerseys .ca! Hi Kerry, Its another day and here we are looking at another dubious hit to the head. In this case Blue Jackets forward Brandon Dubinsky elbowed Saku Koivu in the head about a second after he dished off the puck to a teammate, knocking him unconscious. https://www.cheapbulls.com/ .C. -- Chris Thorburn thinks one of the reasons the Winnipeg Jets have been successful under new coach Paul Maurice is that theyre playing together as a team. Bulls Jerseys China . -- PGA TOUR Canada member Steve Saunders took a three-stroke lead Saturday in the Web. Bulls Jerseys 2020 . Belfort (24-10) needed just 77 seconds to down Henderson in the headlining bout of Saturdays "UFC Fight Night: Belfort vs. Henderson" event at Goiania Arena in Goiania, Brazil. The fight served as a rematch of the pairs 2006 meeting, which Henderson won by decision.Dennis Widemans hit on a linesman in January was haunting. The NHL had never seen one of its players steamroll a ref like that. Seven days after the incident, the league punished the?Calgary Flames?defenseman with a rare 20-game suspension.But on March 10, arbitrator James Oldham downgraded that suspension to just 10 games after being swayed by Widemans novel -- and medically questionable -- argument: Wideman claimed he was in a concussed state that kept him from knowing his actions would hurt the official. Call it the concussion defense.The arbitrator agreed. Oldham wrote, I do not believe that in his concussed state, Wideman could or should have anticipated that his push would cause [the linesman] to fall and bang his head against the boards ...On June 8, the NHL filed a lawsuit to reverse the arbitrators decision. According to the NHL, the decision cannot stand because the arbitrator exceeded his authority. Its currently awaiting the NHLPAs response on Widemans behalf, which is due by Friday.?But the arbitrators decision raises an important question that goes beyond the NHLs argument: Is the concussion defense legitimate?For those unfamiliar with Widemans case, the hit was pretty brutal. During the second period of Calgarys Jan. 27 game against the?Nashville Predators, Wideman took a nasty -- yet legal -- check into the?boards, which left him holding his head as he headed for his bench.On his way, the six-foot, 202-pound Flames defenseman came upon linesman Dennis Henderson, who was skating backward along the boards in Widemans direction. Suddenly, Wideman raised his stick, cross-checking the official in the back and violently sending him face-first to the ice, knocking him unconscious.Henderson suffered a concussion. As of the date the NHL filed its lawsuit, he still hadnt been cleared to return to work.Wideman later denied any recollection or intention. He said things were hazy after he was checked and blamed his actions on a concussion.Wideman isnt the first athlete to blame violence on head trauma. The defense is popping up in criminal courts across the country, albeit in cases where defendants are claiming long-term brain trauma and are accused of committing grave crimes.In January 2012, for example, Jordan Clemons, a 26-year-old former high school football star argued to a Pennsylvania jury that a decade of hard hits caused him to lose control and slit his ex-girlfriends throat. Clemons blamed his violence in part on the numerous head collisions hed suffered both on and off the field.The jury wasnt moved, however. He was sentenced to death.Blaming head trauma didnt fare well for Nathaniel Fujita either. A Massachusetts jury convicted the 20-year-old former high school wideout in March 2013 for strangling his high school sweetheart. A doctor retained by Fujitas trial team couldnt convince the jury that repeated on-field brain injuries contributed to his violent behavior.Massachusetts doesnt have the death penalty; Fujita got a life sentence.Just this month, former Arkansas and NFL running back Cedric Cobbs used brain trauma as a defense in federal court. He faced a maximum of four years in prison for his involvement in an OxyContin drug ring, but Cobbs received three years probation after convincing the court that repetitive brain trauma played a roll in his criminality and that hed fare better with continued treatment.Cobbs case didnt involve violence. And Clemons and Fujitas cases are different from Widemans in many ways, from the type of violence committed to the authority dolling out punishment. But most notably, unlike in those two cases, Wideman claimed his violence came on the heels of a single concussion rather than after years of repeated head trauma.ddddddddddddAccording to Dr. Wayne A. Gordon, chief of rehabilitation psychology and neuropsychology at the Mount Sinai Brain Injury Research Center in New York, the notion that a concussion could immediately spark a violent attack is simply wrong. Violent behavior is not a common short-term consequence of a concussion, he said.I see individuals who are months post- or years post-injury, and, yes, some become agitated for no reason. They lash out at people. They become more angry, Dr. Gordon said over the phone from his Manhattan offices. But those are long-term issues. Theyre not things that emerge immediately.In fact, peer-reviewed medical research backs Dr. Gordon. The research indicates that agitation, poor emotional regulation, difficulty exercising physical control -- some of the factors that could produce violent behavior -- are long-term consequences of concussions. Nothing indicates that these consequences appear moments after a concussion.The two neurologists the NHLPA hired for Widemans case -- who had examined Wideman via FaceTime four days after the hit -- argued otherwise.One of the doctors testified at Widemans arbitration hearing that the concussed often suffer impulse-control difficulties in the immediate postconcussion phase. He believed Wideman couldnt have intended to harm the official because somebody whose brain is not forming cohesive plans is unable to suppress inappropriate behaviors. The other neurologist echoed those sentiments, adding little.If widely adopted, this theory posited by Widemans neurologists -- that bad behavior is an immediate postconcussion symptom -- could create a slippery slope for athletes.Widemans defense hinged on the notion that there is a cause-and-effect relationship between concussions and craze -- that head trauma converts players from being rational beings with self-restraint into lethal animals without self-control. If that were the case, concussed players could have to prove that they are not ticking time bombs post-impact.The concussed could have to persuade their teams that they wouldnt need to be quarantined, sway their spouses to believe its safe for them to be alone with their children, or even convince health insurers that they wouldnt pose a danger to themselves or others such that higher premiums would be necessary.The concussion defense also could be subject to abuse. A hockey or perhaps football player could use it as a convenient excuse should they lash out violently during a game. And such abuse could effectively undermine the rules of organized sports -- rules that are in place to keep players safe, encouraging participation.Many potential dangers could come from allowing concussions to excuse violent behavior like in Widemans case. The arbitrators decision endorsing the concussion defense could be that catalyst. Yes, it is just one decision by one arbitrator (who the NHL has since dismissed for undisclosed reasons). But the decision could be persuasive in other sports arbitration hearings, which often rely on prior arbitration rulings as guidance.If the decision stands, it might be just a matter of time before the defense that helped Wideman avoid a 20-game suspension begins to work to his detriment and that of other players.Adrienne Lawrence is an attorney with a B.S. and M.A. in criminal justice, as well as a J.D. from The George Washington University Law School. She practiced law from 2008 to 2015 before joining ESPN in August 2015. ' ' '