As the Erik Karlsson speculation has slowed to a crawl here in late July I thought I would do a mailbag. I planned on just having one post, but sometimes a question merits full attention and we have one of those today.
Marathon runner extraordinaire, Bills fan, food ateur, and former Hockeybuzz legend Travis Yost provided the following:
I will start by saying Kris Letang is the best defenseman in Penguins history. Yes, Paul Coffey won a Stanley Cup in Pittsburgh and was as advertised, but he only played 331 games for the team.
The Penguins are a very forward centric franchise where you have a very clear and obvious Mount Rushmore of players. Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Sidney Crosby, and Evgeni Malkin are the only four players to crack the 1,000-point barrier for the Penguins. They are not only Penguins icons, but they are also league icons as well. So, there’s four out of the top five by default. It leaves only one spot for a franchise who has had many great forwards such as Ron Francis, Rick Kehoe, Jean Pronovost, Kevin Stevens, Alex Kovalev, Marty Straka, Mark Recchi, Joe Mullen, and Phil Kessel.
As for defense, Randy Carlyle won a Norris Trophy for the Penguins, the only one to do so. Sergei Gonchar was tremendous with the Penguins. Larry Murphy was a force and key addition to the back-to-back Stanley Cups in the early 90’s. However, none of them have longevity Letang has had with the Penguins. Now, just because somebody plays a long time with a team doesn’t make them an all-time great. When you combine Letang’s superb standard of play with his longevity you have a franchise legend. Despite the multiple strokes and all the other injury issues he hit 1,000 games played this year, all with the Penguins. There are only three players to hit this milestone with the Penguins and it is Letang, Sidney Crosby, and Evgeni Malkin.
After you get through the Mount Rushmore of Penguins forwards who is it that sits fifth all-time in Penguins points? It would be Kris Letang with 691 points from the back end. Paul Coffey is second with 440.
Letang compares favorably to the best defensemen of his generation. something which gets glossed over I think because of the injuries and missed time. He very rarely was able to string together complete seasons to be eligible for the awards necessary for prestige. Here’s a breakdown I did a few years back on just how favorably Letang compares to players such as: Erik Karlsson, Drew Doughty, Brent Burns, PK Subban, Roman Josi, Alex Pietrangelo, John Carlson, Shea Weber, Brent Seabrook, Duncan Keith, Victor Hedman, and Mark Giordano. Out of these 12 players eight have a Norris Trophy.
There’s a reason people like myself and many others really want Erik Karlsson to be traded to the Penguins. He’s an all-time great coming off an excellent season. He’s one of the best players of his era, regardless of position. Here's a little snapshot from the blog linked above. Kris Letang is holding his own with one of the best to ever do it.
After chronicling the evidence, Kris Letang is a top five Penguins player of all-time. There have been a lot of great players who have come through. Letang is not only one of them, but one that has done it longer than everyone else other than his two best buds on the team, Crosby and Malkin. His number should be retired and he should be given serious consideration for the Hockey Hall of Fame. He is a franchise icon.
Part two of the mailbag will be here in the very near future.
Thanks for reading!
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