After a decade and a half in the NHL, Penguins defenseman Kris Letang has accomplished just about everything the game of hockey has to offer.
He’s won the Stanley Cup ... three times. He’s appeared in the All-Star Game alongside the NHL’s elite ... six times. He’s finished in the top 10 in Norris Trophy voting ... seven times.
With all due respect to Paul Coffey, Ron Stackhouse and Larry Murphy, there’s a legitimate argument to be made that Letang is the most-accomplished blue liner in Penguins history.
So after 863 games, 134 goals and 582 points, what is that still drives this defenseman?
“Four,” Letang said with a smile as he held up each of his fingers during a video interview with the Post-Gazette.
Four Stanley Cup rings, of course.
“Individual stuff is not that important,” said Letang, who is attending this week’s BioSteel #CAMP in Montreal alongside some of the game’s best players, including Connor McDavid. “The important part is to win another Cup as a group. That’s what people will remember.”
For Letang — and for the rest of the Penguins’ core — there may only be a few more opportunities to achieve that goal.
Even after a quiet offseason in which the Penguins chose to keep the same core, coach and goalie, Letang is looking ahead to the Oct. 12 opener with a sense of optimism. He pointed out that last season, the Penguins weathered an injury-ravaged season to win one of the best divisions in hockey. And even though the result wasn’t there, Letang believes the Penguins carried the play for the majority of their postseason series against the Islanders.
“I feel comfortable saying we have what we need to be successful, whether on the coaching staff or player-wise,” Letang said. “We have the group to do it.”
The aging core, salary cap constraints and a dry prospect pool are all factors when it comes to how seriously the Penguins will contend for the Cup this season — and beyond. Letang’s pending contract status is another critical variable.
Currently, Letang is set to enter the final year of a deal that carries a $7.25 million cap hit. First-year general manager Ron Hextall has publicly stated that he sees a future with the big three — Letang, Evgeni Malkin (who is also entering the final year of his deal) and Sidney Crosby. To this point, those discussions with Letang’s camp are ongoing, but still unsettled.
“It’s something that I’m not going to be involved in,” Letang said. “It’s going to be Ron [Hextall] and my agent that are going to work all those details. If it’s during the summer, it’s during the summer. If it’s during training camp, season, mid-season, at the end of the year next year ... I’m not in control of it right now.”
If someone handed Letang a pen to write the script to the end of his career, he said “of course” he’d like to finish here in Pittsburgh, mostly for the opportunity to continue to play alongside Crosby and Malkin.
“You hear about those guys who decide to go with another team trying to look for another Cup or bigger salaries,” he said. “The thing we built in Pittsburgh with Sid and Geno, I think it’s special. Obviously, there’s always an end to an era. I cannot predict when it’s going to be done.
“But it’s like three brothers that grew up together. It’s a long time with these guys. We had the chance to win three Cups together. It’s a special group.”
That said, after all these years in the NHL, the All-Star defenseman is also well aware of the business side of the game. Sure, Crosby, Malkin and Letang have been the backbone of a team that boasts the longest active playoff streak in major professional sports. But none of those three hold the keys to the future.
“We know it’s a business,” Letang said. “It doesn’t matter what anyone wants. It’s not in our hands.
“At the end of the day, guys who have been together for 15-20 years — whatever it ends up being — is going to be on the small scale of the longevity of a franchise. You have to think about all the other years and you want to keep winning. I think that’s why, for me, I try to prepare the same way I prepared when I was 25 years old. I want to be the player that drives the play. I want to be a big part of our team.”
In that way, the discussion came full circle as Letang looked ahead to the 2021-22 season ... and beyond.
“It doesn’t matter how many years I’m going to keep doing this,” he said, “I just want to do it for one reason — that’s to win every year.”
Mike DeFabo: mdefabo@post-gazette.com and Twitter @MikeDeFabo.
First Published: September 2, 2021, 10:00 a.m.
Updated: September 2, 2021, 12:19 p.m.
