Letang back in top shape, looks ahead
Things are different these days for Kris Letang.
Not the obvious — the birth this summer of his daughter, Victoria. That’s seemingly been totally fine, a breeze. Older brother Alex has been eager to help, and outside of a bit more noise, the chemistry in the Letang house remains very good.
The seismic change for Letang occurred in his professional life.
A year after spending the summer rehabbing from serious neck surgery, Letang entered this offseason with no notable injuries in tow. Just a ton of motivation to put a frustrating 2017-18 season behind him and prove he has much more to give.
“Like a million times better,” Letang said Tuesday following an informal skate at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex when asked how he feels now compared to this time last year. “It’s not even close.
“It feels good to have good sessions in the summer and be able to skate out there.”
This might sound silly to some.
Letang worked out last summer, right? It’s not like he sat around on a La-Z-Boy and soaked up the Montreal sun.
But there’s a gigantic difference between rehabbing an injury and whatever you want to call the workouts that Letang, notoriously a fitness nut, usually completes.
Being healthy from the jump allowed Letang to set goals, track his progress, know what he was going to get out of his body. On the ice, it allowed him to focus on certain areas of his game without any physical limitations.
“I was able to do everything I wanted,” Letang said.
Derick Brassard trained with Letang this summer as the two have done before and left those sessions with a familiar thought.
“The guy’s a beast,” Brassard said. “The guy works hard. He’s pretty serious about his own play, and how he wants to reach his potential. It’s fun to see, and it’s fun to watch. I think he’s pushing not only me but everyone around him.”
Brian Dumoulin knows Letang better than most, the result of their top defense pairing that was again the case Tuesday during a scrimmage.
When Letang is on, and with the progress Dumoulin made last season, the Penguins have the potential of having a truly dangerous top pair — if, of course, Letang can put last season behind him.
“He’s still a tremendous player,” Dumoulin said. “It’s not like he was just awful last year. He had some ups and some downs. He was a great player, and I loved playing with him as much as I did.
“But, even if you ask him, it’s hard to take that much [time] off of hockey and step into the minutes he plays and the role he plays and be great every night. He’s his own toughest critic. He wants to get better and he tries to get better every day.
“I bet having a full summer and training as hard as he does and coming back here, he’s going to be in great shape. He’s going to be ready to perform. There’s not a doubt in my mind he’s going to be a great player and contribute every night for us.”
There’s not a doubt in Letang’s mind, either.
Nor should there be. Letang is only 31. He remains a physical specimen, and there’s a good chance that he didn’t completely forget how to cover people or make an outlet pass. Suddenly taking enormous risks didn’t become appealing.
It’s feel, and Letang struggled to get that back.
“At the beginning or middle [of the season], it was different,” Letang said. “I never had surgery before — knock on wood it doesn’t happen again. It was a little different.”
Yet one of the things that was striking hearing him speak Tuesday was the way he talked about the upcoming season. No bold proclamations. No promises. No excitement, other than feeling pleased to be back in a routine and giving himself the chance to improve a little more each day.
“Same as always,” Letang said. “Try to come into camp, get in game shape and try to build on my game throughout camp and the beginning of the season. Try to do what I do.”
On the ice, that means gobbling up minutes the way Pac-Man does ghosts. Letang has averaged 25 or more minutes per game in five of the past six seasons and had the highest mark of his career in 2015-16 — 26:57 — when Mike Sullivan took over and Letang fit like a glove into Sullivan’s system.
A big offseason storyline was whether or not they’ll try to play Letang less. General manager Jim Rutherford said early on that was the way the Penguins would go, only to soften his tone recently.
The reality is that nobody knows. Not Rutherford, not Sullivan and not Letang. It will depend on which version of Letang the Penguins get.
“I don’t have an opinion on that,” Letang said. “I’m just telling you if I play well, I’ll play. [Sullivan] will put me on the ice. If I don’t, obviously you don’t want that guy on the ice. It’s just how it’s going to go I guess.”
For now, the thing Letang can most easily control is how he plays, whether he makes any unfortunate illtimed gaffes. He made too many last season. Asked about last season, Letang said he knew it was bad and didn’t see a point in dissecting it much more.
“It’s not like I went home and I was satisfied,” he said. “I don’t really need to add anything about it. I just have to move on.”
Which is a heck of a lot easier to do whenever you’re healthy and not figuring out what still works, how to (effectively) play hockey after serious surgery and continuing to give yourself a physical edge.
“Mentally, you’re more sharp, so you can keep a high pace all game and be able to process everything the same way,” Letang said. “If you don’t train, yes, you can have a good shift. But, when fatigue starts creeping in on you, you start making bad decisions.”