Letang’s status open for discussion
Is it right to put elite tag on veteran defenseman?
Third period. Tied game. And Kris Letang nonchalantly makes a Dallas Stars team that would play in the Stanley Cup final look like a bunch of beer- leaguers who got the party started in the PPG Paints Arena parking lot before the game.
After the Penguins win an offensive zone faceoff to him at the point, the All- Star defenseman kicks the puck onto his stick as an opponent comes screaming at him. Letang takes a quick step and a quick look then snaps a pass between two Stars wingers. Hit a shin guard there and maybe it’s a 2- on- 1 the other way.
A moment later, the puck skitters back out to him. Letang fakes a shot, causing one defender to do a belly flop. He pulls the puck around him then gets another dude to drop with a similar flick of the stick.
Somebody better cut these guys off.
Skating backward now, Letang leaves those two guys in the dust, pivots so he can cut toward the crease, then slams the puck between the goalie’s pads.
“You see him and you kind of want to do the same thing,” teammate Marcus Pettersson said after that Oct. 18 win. “But not a lot of us can do that.”
Not many defensemen have the stones to try it in a moment like that, either.
For nearly 15 years now, Letang has tiptoed along that fine line for the Penguins, establishing himself as one of the most productive and entertaining defensemen of this generation. There have certainly been plenty of plays like that, when dazzle turned to danger and the red light flickered on in the Penguins’ end.
Those mental miscues have been more prevalent in recent
seasons as he coasts into the twilight of his career. And some puck pundits would argue that a wave of talented young defenders has blown by Letang, who turned 33 in April.
Do the rewards still outweigh the risks? And is he still one of the NHL’s best?
While certain areas of his game have shown decline, both advanced statistics and analysts who recently spoke to the Pittsburgh Post- Gazette suggest that Letang is, as NHL Network analyst Ken Daneyko put it, “still pretty darned good.”
“He’s maybe not elite anymore, maybe not quite what he was at his peak. But he’s still a good skater and puck- mover,” said Daneyko, the ex- Devils defenseman who won three Cups with New Jersey. “Look at the numbers last year.”
Let’s indulge Ken Daneyko
While Letang did not pile up the points like he did from 2010- 16, when only Erik Karlsson totaled more per game, he remained highly productive.
For the ninth time in the past 10 seasons, Letang ranked among the NHL’s top 13 defensemen in points per game. The outlier season over the past decade came in 2017- 18, his first year back after neck surgery. Letang, who in 2019- 20 made another All- Star team as an injury replacement, had 44 points in 61 games.
He remains a plus puck- mover, but digging deeper revealed some slippage.
Letang’s giveaway rate has increased in each of the past three seasons, going from 2.46 per 60 minutes in 2016- 17 to 3.05 in 2019- 20. Only 10 blue- liners who skated in at least 30 games had a higher giveaway rate. For reference, Letang averaged 2.04 in 2014- 15 and his career low was 1.58 in 2010- 11.
Former NHL forward Anson Carter, who is now an analyst for NBC Sports, doesn’t see the same kind of urgency that Letang played with during his prime.
“Just watching Letang the last year or so, he’s become super casual with the puck,” Carter said. “And even getting back to loose pucks, he’s become a little too casual. And it’s really affecting the way the Penguins play because they can’t play fast. Everyone wants to play fast, but he’s playing a different speed.”
Advanced statistics that Sportlogiq recently shared with OilersNation. com reinforce the notion that Letang was not as consistently crisp on his breakouts.
He was one of 26 defensemen who attempted at least 750 outlet passes, defined as breakout passes that crossed the defensive blue line but not center red. His 68.8% success rate ranked 19th among that group. Letang actually fared better on stretch passes crossing the center line, with a 72.5% success rate.
When it came to lugging the puck out himself, Letang skated it across his blue line 140 times. That ranked 34th in the league but was less than half of the total for Nashville’s Roman Josi, the Norris Trophy winner, who did it 311 times.
Add it all up, and Letang’s 78.0% success rate on exit attempts was 28th among defensemen who ranked in the top 40 in total controlled exits.
What about the other end?
Brian Burke, the former general manager and Cup- winner who is now a Sportsnet analyst, scoffed at the suggestion that Letang has become too cavalier.
“That aggravates me because I think he’s a very competent and reliable player. Does he make mistakes? Yeah. So does Geno. So does Sid,” he said. “But you want him to be willing to risk a mistake because that’s how genius emerges.”
The Penguins’ expected goals per 60 minutes with Letang on at 5on- 5 were 2.53, per Natural Stat Trick. That’s 0.02 less than Washington’s John Carlson, the Norris runner- up.
Over the years, Letang’s skating ability, particularly his closing speed and all- direction mobility, has helped him hound puck- carriers along the perimeter. Even at 32, his gap control was still quite good last season. His zone entry denial rate was 49.9%, per Sportlogiq, ranking 34th among 156 qualifying blue- liners.
Letang ranked first on the team in blocked shots per 60 minutes, per Sportlogiq. Only 10 NHL defensemen more frequently broke up passes inside the defensive zone. And he was in the 65th percentile when it came to stick checks.
Daneyko cited Letang’s competitiveness, comparing him to Chris Chelios, a feisty 5- foot- 11 defenseman who battled his way into the Hall of Fame.
“Letang is never going to be a shutdown defender. We know that,” Daneyko said. “Does he get beat sometimes? Are there deficiencies? Can he be overaggressive or get beaten to the net by a bigger, stronger guy? Possibly. It happens. He’s going to make some mistakes. It’s no different than a lot of defensemen.”
Staying ‘ at that elite level’
That said, Daneyko believes
Letang must change his playing style as his physical tools erode, a notion Letang bristled at after the playoff sweep in 2019.
“Kris has a good point, saying his instincts and his offensive abilities have served him and the Penguins pretty well for a long time. There’s no question about it,” Daneyko said. “However, I think every player, no matter how good they are, has to adjust their mindset as they get older and maybe take fewer risks.”
The Penguins are hoping that recently re- hired assistant coach Todd Reirden, who had a hand in Letang’s initial ascension, can coax more elite play out of him. He was a Penguins assistant from 2010- 14. During that time, Letang blossomed from a bit player on the 2009 Cup team to a bonafide twoway stud.
Reirden is excited to sit down and discuss how to maximize Letang’s latter years. “It will be a re- establishing of some habits and some details that allow Kris to have success and make sure he is consistent on a nightly basis.”
Reirden acknowledged that puck management will be a major emphasis. “We have to make sure we put him in position to utilize his assets because he’s got some special ones, and force him to bring those turnovers down.”
Reirden indicated that the Penguins plan to get Letang and their other blue- liners more involved in the attack. Last season, Letang ranked just 42th among NHL defensemen with 55 controlled offensive zone entries, per the Sportlogiq data provided to OilersNation. com.
Letang might have become an afterthought to some after peers such as Josi, Victor Hedman and Cale Makar piled up the points this past season. But Reirden and the Penguins are betting that Letang still has plenty of magic left in him.
“His game continues to transition,” Reirden said, “I’m excited to get back working with Kris and allowing him to stay at that elite level [ in the coming years].”
“But you want him to be willing to risk making a mistake because that’s how genius emerges.”
— Brian Burke Sportsnet analyst and former GM