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. Nike Shoes Cheap Uk Sale . Michell Burger, a woman who lives on an estate next to Pistorius gated community, said she and her husband were awoken by the screams in the pre-dawn hours of Feb. 14 last year, when Pistorius killed Reeva Steenkamp by shooting four times through a door in his bathroom. Wholesale Nike Shoes Uk . Gerald Green and Miles Plumlee? Green had bounced around the NBA when he wasnt playing overseas. The Pacers gave up on Plumlee after just one season. Now Green and Plumlee are key cogs in the Suns surprising breakout season. http://www.discountnikeshoesuk.com/ Nike Shoes Outlet Uk Online .Y. -- Vancouver Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo had little trouble picking up his first shutout of the season against a Buffalo Sabres team thats having trouble scoring goals. Cheap Nike Shoes Uk . Detroit and Boston are deadlocked, 1-1, and Tigers manager Jim Leyland could be forgiven if he was caught rationalizing instead of dissecting how his club could blow a 5-1 lead late in Game 2. OAKLAND, Calif. -- After ruling the Bay Bridge Series for three days against the big-spending Giants, the Oakland Athletics ran right into Madison Bumgarner.On the mound, and at the plate.Bumgarner pitched into the seventh to snap a two-start skid and also batted in an AL ballpark, and the Giants avoided a four-game sweep by beating the As 12-6 on Thursday night.Buster Posey hit a towering three-run homer to center in the third and Brandon Crawford followed with a solo shot before adding an RBI single two innings later.Brandon Belt had four RBI and hit a go-ahead two-run double in the third ahead of Poseys ninth home run. Bumgarner helped start the rally with a leadoff double.As lefty Dillon Overton (1-1) was done after three innings in his second major league start after he won his debut last Saturday at Los Angeles. This time, he surrendered eight runs and eight hits with a strikeout and three walks.He said he wasnt able to make the adjustments he usually does -- and Overton knew Bumgarner had the ability to make him pay with the bat.Ive watched him on TV for years now. I knew he could hit, Overton said. I left that one up and Bum made me pay for it.Marcus Semien hit his career-best 16th home run in the first as the As took a quick lead against Bumgarner, then Yonder Alonso added a two-run drive in the seventh to chase Bumgarner. Oakland has homered in a season-best nine games in a row.Bumgarner (9-4) was given the option by manager Bruce Bochy to bat himself rather than the Giants using a designated hitter, and of course the big lefty chose to swing the bat. He had lost two straight starts following seven consecutive winning decisions.Im not trying to prove anything to anybody. Were trying to win ballgames, Bumgarner said. Thats all I care about. I dont care what anybody says or thinks about it. I care about these guys, I care about our fans. ... I want to be as good a baseball player as I can be, not just a pitcher. In this league youve got to hit. You can change the outcome of the game sometimes.Bumgarner allowed four runs and seven hits, struck out four and didnt walk a batter in 6 1/3 innings. The two home runs allowed matched his most for the season, also done opening day at Milwaukee on April 4.dddddddddddd. He hasnt lost three straight starts since June 27-July 8, 2014, during his spectacular World Series MVP season.While San Francisco had given up seven or more runs in four straight games, the Giants helped Oakland score at least six runs in a seventh straight contest when Coco Crisp hit a two-out, two-run double in the ninth.San Francisco added on late, getting Belts two-run single. Fernando Rodriguez also walked in a pair of runs among his five free passes in the inning, and the As had their three-game winning streak snapped with only a second defeat in the last eight games.DOOLITTLES SHOULDERLefty reliever Sean Doolittle is on the disabled list with further shoulder issues. He had an MRI exam that showed some labrum inflammation in his strained throwing shoulder. He tried to play catch Wednesday but struggled. The hope is he will be ready to return after the All-Star break.Doolittle said no injections or procedures are planned.Its really scary when you hear you have an issue with you shoulder, your labrum particularly, but the trainers are optimistic once we get it calmed down, get the swelling out, that well be back in business, he said. Im incredibly frustrated because my shoulder was feeling good throughout the whole season. I felt like we found a maintenance program that was keeping me in a really good spot.TRAINERS ROOMAthletics: OF Khris Davis was out of the lineup a day after being scratched with a bruised left shoulder injured running into the wall Tuesday. He batted in the cage and felt better than a day earlier. ... The As agreed to terms with No. 6 overall draft pick LHP A.J. Puk out of Florida. He threw a bullpen session for the Oakland brass.UP NEXTGiants: RHP Johnny Cueto (11-1) takes the ball on the road looking to improve on his 7-2 record and 2.69 ERA in 10 career starts against Arizona.Athletics: RHP Sonny Gray (3-6) tries to snap a career-high five-game skid. He is 0-1 with a 3.23 ERA in five starts since coming off the DL on June 5 and he is 0-5 with a 6.19 ERA over his last 10 outings. ' ' '