The Penguins might be in a tight playoff race with every game important. However, today’s focus deserves to be on Penguins defenseman Kris Letang who will play in his 1,000th game today. He is the best defenseman in Penguins history when you combine quality of play and longevity. He is only the third player to ever play in 1,000 games with the franchise joining Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. This trio has played a game together for a record 17 consecutive seasons.
Kris Letang’s commitment to fitness and training is well documented. He is a workout freak. If he wasn’t we wouldn’t even be talking about 1,000 games played for him. His style of play is incredibly physical and to survive 17 years of it you definitely need to put the work in away from the ice to make it feasible. Aside from the obvious wear and tear we are also talking about a player who has suffered two strokes. The strokes weren’t a result of anything Letang did wrong. The doctors say they don’t pose a short or long term threat to him playing NHL hockey. Regardless, they were both incredibly scary and could have derailed his career.
There were a lot of things that could have prevented Letang from playing 1,000 games. There were a lot of things that could have prevented him from being a Hall of Fame caliber player. Yes, a Hall of Fame caliber player because he should definitely be bestowed such an honor. His injuries never allowed him to take serious runs at Norris Trophies. His games played were usually cut down and thus his chances for major awards. This does not invalidate the impact he has had on the Penguins for his first 1,000 NHL games.
Among active defensemen he is third overall in total points at 686 only trailing Brent Burns (833) Erik Karlsson (755). He is third overall in points per game (.687) trailing only Erik Karlsson (.826) and Roman Josi (.727).
He averages 24:12 of ice time per game for his entire career. When other injuries happen around him he gobbles up all the minutes. Most of those years he spent many games pushing towards 30 minutes per game. Freakishly, he would look as fresh in his 28th minute as he did his first. A testament to his aforementioned fitness and conditioning.
Kris Letang has had the benefit of playing with Sidney Crosby, a great benefit. Although, it is a two-way street. Sidney Crosby has had the benefit of playing with Kris Letang. If you've watched the Penguins over the last 17 years you know all the transition work Letang puts in to make his forwards jobs much easier and that includes Sidney Crosby. There is no doubt Crosby was able to be Crosby more often because of the hard work, great passing, and offensive acumen from the back end. A lot of people can look good playing with Crosby. Not many can push him to be better, Letang has.
Pick a defensemen from Letang’s era and he will compare favorably to them.
I made these comparisons three years ago . Letang is right there will all of them: Erik Karlsson, Shea Weber, Duncan Keith, Drew Doughty, Brent Burns, PK Subban, Alex Pietrangelo, Roman Josi, Victor Hedman, Mark Giordano, John Carlson, Brent Seabrook. Go ahead, click on the link and compare him to those others for yourselves. I’ll start you off
The comparisons to other players are even more favorable. Kris Letang is elite.
He can skate with any of them. He works as hard as any of them. He can play as many minutes as any of them. He can play as physical as any of them. He can handle the puck and create offense with any of them. He is among the best defensemen of his era. It isn’t disputable and he deserves to be recognized as such.
In Letang’s 17 seasons with the Penguins the team has played in 1,321 games. This means Letang has lost 321 games for various reasons, mostly injury. Reaching 1,000 games was never a certainty. Hell, remaining a Penguins wasn’t even a certainty up until he signed his extension this summer. He did sign that contract and he did reach 1,000 games. The Penguins forwards usually get all the shine when talking about all time players in the franchise’s history. Kris Letang deserves to be included. He is a Penguins legend and one of the best to ever do it. He deserves to have his number retired.
It has been such a pleasure to watch Kris Letang over these 17 years. Without him this Penguins era doesn't look the way it does.
Congratulations to Kris Letang on 1,000 games and here's to many more.
Thanks for reading!
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