Penguins A to Z: Kris Letang still offers plenty of good, some bad and a few injuries

While the NHL is on hold due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the Tribune-Review will offer Penguins A to Z, a player-by-player look at all 55 individuals under NHL contract with the organization, from mid-level prospect Niclas Almari to high-profile trade acquisition Jason Zucker.

Player: Kris Letang

Position: Defenseman

Shoots: Right

Age: 33

Height: 6-foot

Weight: 201 pounds

2019-20 NHL statistics: 61 games, 44 points (15 goals, 29 assists)

Contract: Sixth-year of an eight-year contract with a salary cap hit of $7.25 million. Pending unrestricted free agent in 2022.

Acquired: Draft, third round (No. 62 overall), July 30, 2005

This season: In a lot of ways, 2019-20 has been the prototypical Kris Letang campaign.

He did plenty of good things, sprinkled in some bad decisions and was occasionally injured.

That’s pretty much how one could describe his entire 14-year career.

• The good: Letang is tied for fourth in the NHL among defensemen in both goals (15) and average ice time per game (25:44). His play led to him being selected to an All-Star Game for the sixth time in his career.

• The bad: For a player with his skill and experience, his propensity to cough up a puck in instances that lead to a prime scoring chance or take a selfish penalty remains a source of frustration for the most fervent of detractors.

(Video courtesy NHL)

• The injured: Given the amount of ice time he commands and a willingness to put himself in danger, Letang has missed a lot of games over his career due to severe injuries such a herniated disc in his neck and concussions (to say nothing of a stroke he suffered in 2014). This season, Letang missed eight games due to undisclosed ailments.

The future: Assuming the NHL season resumes, Letang will slot back onto the right side of the team’s top defensive pairing alongside Brian Dumoulin, his long-time partner. The duo routinely gets five-on-five ice time with franchise center Sidney Crosby, primarily due to Letang’s ability to feed the puck to Crosby or his wingers with speed through the neutral zone.

Provided he’s healthy, always an uncertain provision, Letang will log some of the most ample time on ice totals in the NHL and be a force in even-strength, power-play and penalty kill situations.

It will be curious to see how the team uses Letang on the power play if the season resumes. Throughout the season, the Penguins were inconsistent with the man advantage and used all sorts of configurations in the name of gaining traction. Letang and fellow right-handed defenseman Justin Schultz were regularly switched between the first and second units.

Long-term, Letang’s contract is always a curiosity. He has a modified no-trade clause which allows him to submit a list of 18 teams – in a league a year away from expanding to 32 teams — he will accept a trade to. If the Penguins ever need to jettison salary and potentially get a substantial return in the form of future assets, Letang is the most logical component of this franchise’s on-ice core to go.

But there is little to suggest the Penguins are eager to do that as Letang enters the final years of his contract.

You’ll be hard pressed to find a fiercer advocate of Letang than coach Mike Sullivan. And as long as Sullivan continues to have significant input on the composition of the Penguins’ roster, Letang’s place in lineup will remain secure.

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