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Penguins captain Tom Kostopoulos began his pro career in 1999, the same year the Penguins began play in Wilkes-Barre. The two will be together for another season.

When Tom Kostopoulos began his pro hockey career in 1999, he listened to veteran teammates talk about how hard it was to walk away.

Now, 16 years later, Kostopoulos can relate.

“It’s definitely hard to walk away. This is pretty much all I’ve done,” Kostopoulos said. “It’s scary to think about what comes after hockey, but I can put that off for another year.”

That’s because Kostopoulos signed a new deal on Wednesday to return to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and continue a pro career that will enter its 17th season. Looking back to his rookie season, Kostopoulos admits he never imagined his career would last this long.

“Every contract I signed during my career I thought it could be the last one,” he said. “What hits you more now is how fast it all goes by.”

With a wife and children to consider, Kostopoulos said he was happy to get the contract in place early. Now, he said, the kids know where they will be going to school and the family has the security of calling Wilkes-Barre home once again.

But before the family decisions could be made, Kostopoulos had to decide if he wanted to keep playing for a 17th season. There were two factors that made his decision easier.

First, Kostopoulos has yet to see his production drop. He scored 44 points last season in 72 games, just three less than his total from the season before. If his production dropped off last season, Kostopoulos said he would’ve seriously considered retirement.

And then there’s the factor that Wilkes-Barre/Scranton wanted Kostopoulos back that made his decision to keep playing easier.

“My family and I were thinking if it didn’t work in Wilkes-Barre, I wouldn’t try anywhere else,” Kostopoulos said. “It was either play here to hang them up.”

Next season will be Kostopoulos’ 10th with the Penguins organization and he’s almost certainly a lock to captain the team for the third consecutive year. But with an early playoff exit in the second round to Manchester this postseason, Kostopoulos said he feels last season wasn’t complete.

“There’s a feeling of unfinished business going into this season,” he said.

There’s also the ever-looming question that Kostopoulos is used to pondering.

Will this be his last season?

“There’s a good chance it could be my last year, but I said that the last two years,” Kostopoulos said. “I’ll worry about that later as the season goes on and I’ll see how I’m feeling.”