ttish will make his Flemington debut in the Group 1 Emirates Stakes over 2000 m

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.Cheap Shoes China Free Shipping . 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Its the second straight game Bell has scored in extra time for Kelowna, which beat the Brandon Wheat Kings 6-5 on Friday, and he now has four game-winning goals on the season.Charlie Appleby: hes got two horses in the Melbourne Cup.Charlie who?You would be forgiven for having a similar conversation as the 2016 edition approaches, for Charlie Appleby certainly is a new name to the Cup Day form guide. Before the Spring Racing Carnival got underway, few in Australia -- even those in the racing know -- knew much at all about the 41-year-old Devon-born Englishman who is the head trainer of Godolphins UK-based training operation.Having taken that role in 2013, he may well never have given it a thought that hed have two steeds with very live chances in the Cup: Saturdays very impressive Group 2 Lexus Stakes winner, Oceanographer; and Qewy, who was victorious in the Group 2 Geelong Cup last month (when Oceanographer was third).But the Godolphin global breeding and racing operation under the ownership of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the Ruler of Dubai, and one of the heavyweights of the racing world, competes in topline races across the calendar, across the continents -- as noted in ESPNs story on jockey Kerrin McEvoy, who rode both Qewy and Oceanographer to their wins.Saeed bin Suroor, the head trainer of Godolphins Dubai base will saddle-up Beautiful Romance ($67 with UBET) and Secret Number ($35), while John OShea -- who heads the Australian operation - will carry the hopes of many punters with Cox Plate runner-up and Cup favourite Hartnell ($6) leading the overall Godolphin charge.Appleby, however, may just be the trainer to make the biggest impact for Godolphin in nearly two decades of trying to win the Melbourne Cup.An amateur rider on the flat and over the jumps in his early days, Appleby rose from the position of travelling head lad to stable head lad and then to assistant trainer before the English summer of 2013 saw a big moment in his working life.I worked very closely with His Highness through my time at Godolphin, Appleby told ESPN on Sunday. He approached me, called me to his office, and offered me the position. I was obviously thrilled! It was one of those moments where you pinch yourself to see if it was really happening.The Godolphin business spends and earns millions upon millions of any currency you wish to mention, and hence there is a huge responsibility in taking charge, and directing the fortunes, of some very expensive horseflesh with not only their next race in mind but also their opportunities as high earning stud prospects.Sometimes job opportunities are seen as no-brainers to take up.For me? Yes, Appleby told ESPN with a healthy chuckle.People ask me if I enjoy it. Ive enjoyed it right from when I started to where we are standing here today. It is an amazing experience to work with the calibre of horses that Ive seen and dealt with.It wasnt even that the decision to take it up was a no-brainer but more a second thought, for me, wasnt even an option. Im enjoying every day of it.Ive worked for Godolphin for 19 years now. When His Highness offered me the job it was a very surreal moment. Im so lucky to have the support team around me.And with that opportunity, results quickly followed.I was very lucky, in my first season, when I went to Santa Anita and won the [Group 1] Breeders Cup Juvenile. I stood there and took it all in then I called the boss and thanked him for the opportunity. The only way I can repay that faith is to produce good winners. With having live chances in these races, I feel that Im doing my bit in repaying that.I just rang him to say thank you very much. It was my starting point.Having achieved Group 1 wins in the U.S. and England, the next opportunity beckons in Melbourne, where Appleby has shown himself to be more broadminded in his first hit at the Spring Racing Carnival than have others in previous campaigns. He hasnt just focused on the Melbourne Cup but looked to bring horses with the ability to collect sizeable cheques in other races suuch as the Geelong Cup and the Bendigo Cup -- both Group 2 races worth $Aus300,000 each, and won by his runners Qewy and Francis of Assissi respectively.ddddddddddddewy ($21 for the Melbourne Cup with UBET) and Oceanographer ($7.50) didnt travel only to be a part of Applebys sideshow. As it happens, both have been successful and will take their part in the $Aus6 million Race That Stops the Nation at Flemington on Tuesday.Many observers have rightly been excited by Oceanographers winning effort at Flemington in the Lexus on Saturday, but Appleby is still very keen to promote his other charges credentials.At Geelong, we ran Qewy [at a distance] that was well below his optimum; he is a two-mile horse. The track [shape] didnt suit Oceanographer as well as it did Qewy, with him losing his footing on the home turn. Qewy was there to be shot at in the lead but he kept finding when they challenged him.We knew that if [Oceanographer] could repeat the effort then he would be hard to beat [in the Lexus]. He did that well.Most telling is Applebys overall personal feelings on the chances of both horses.Qewy is an out-and-out stayer. What he did in Geelong was impressive for a horse that was coming back in trip, he said, referring to Qewy mainly taking on races at 4000 metres or above for most of his 2016 outings.Oceanographer was certainly an eyecatcher in the Geelong Cup and came out of it well. Then we all saw what he did [on Derby Day]. Hes stepping up in trip, too, which I dont see as any problem at all.Personally, I love Qewy. Hes got a great profile for this sort of race. He ran very well in two races during the Royal Ascot festival and at Goodwood, and Id say from what he did in Geelong, and given that it looks like it will be a genuinely run [fast-run] two miles, he has had that nice break between Geelong then going into the Melbourne Cup.Appleby said of his trip to Australia: It is a learning experience for us here at the moment. So far it has all gone very well.And the learning experience will continue on Tuesday, with Oceanographer running just three days after winning the Lexus. Much as that is common in Australia - with Brew in 2000 and Shocking in 2009 following up their Lexus Stakes wins with Melbourne Cup success at the same carnival - but Appleby says it is very alien [for British trainers] to back up a horse as quickly as three days over these sorts of trips.It can work with sprinters, but Ive never done it before anyway.Following Saturdays win, Melbourne Cup Handicapper Greg Carpenter issued a one-kilogram penalty to Oceanographer, lifting his impost to 52kg -- a handy lightweight for such a race. Chad Schofield, son of Saturdays Derby-winning jockey Glyn, will take the ride on Oceanographer.I said to him, you can have a cup of tea now, Appleby quipped on the extra room Schofield now has to indulge.While Oceanographer and Qewy will carry Applebys hopes on Tuesday, Caulfield Cup runner-up Scottish will make his Flemington debut in the Group 1 Emirates Stakes over 2000 metres on Saturday.We purchased Scottish as a long-term project, and he was going to be our Cox Plate horse, to be honest. But he didnt have a high enough rating to make that race an option.We could consider the Melbourne Cup for him next year but dropping back to a mile-and-a-quarter on Saturday, that ticks all the boxes.However, it is the 3200 metre Emirates Melbourne Cup that has all the attention for now.It is a race that every owner and horseman would love to win. Its there and weve hopefully got some live shots on Tuesday. Itd be great to win it for Godolphin and a huge feather in our cap. Anyones, actually.ESPN will be covering Melbourne Cup Day Live. Join our Interactive Blog from 10am (AEDT) on Tuesday, Nov. 1. ' ' '