For the first time in more than eight years, Chris Kunitz woke up Sunday morning and was no longer a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
“I guess it’s kind of still surreal that we’re leaving and going somewhere else,” Kunitz told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in a phone conversation Sunday.
Kunitz is now a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning after he signed a one-year deal with them Saturday that’s worth $2 million, plus another $1 million that’s available through incentives.
Although the Penguins apparently did not express much interest in retaining Kunitz, forcing him to look for work elsewhere, leaving Pittsburgh will be anything but easy for Chris, his wife Maureen and their three children.