Because the Pittsburgh Penguins head towards subsequent week’s Olympic break, they’ll be with out one in all their key defensemen. The team announced that Kris Letang will miss a minimum of the subsequent 4 weeks attributable to a fracture in his foot. He has been positioned on injured reserve because of this.
The 38-year-old has bounced again a bit offensively this season, choosing up 25 factors in 50 video games after managing simply 30 in 74 contests in 2024-25. In fact, that’s nonetheless a far cry from the routine showings of 40-plus factors that Letang has had for almost all of his profession, however his level complete remains to be ok to sit down second amongst Pittsburgh defenders behind solely Erik Karlsson.
On prime of nonetheless being one in all their extra productive gamers from the again finish, Letang can also be one in all their prime minute-munchers, logging over 22 minutes per contest for the sixteenth straight season whereas taking a daily activate each particular groups items. That additionally ranks second behind Karlsson.
That is the second harm of observe on Pittsburgh’s again finish this week. The group can also be with out Jack St. Ivany for the subsequent couple of months after he lately underwent hand surgical procedure. Now, with Letang on injured reserve, the Penguins solely have six wholesome blueliners on their energetic roster, so a roster transfer to carry somebody up from AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton appears doubtless. Within the interim, Connor Clifton will return to the lineup after being a scratch for the previous week.
This harm comes on the heels of Letang lacking a pair of video games final week attributable to an undisclosed harm. It’s unclear if this announcement pertains to that, and he simply wasn’t in a position to preserve taking part in by way of it or if it’s a distinct harm altogether.
If there was ever time for a participant to overlook 4 weeks with an harm, that is it. With the NHL shutting down for greater than three weeks for the Olympics, Letang is just slated to overlook the subsequent 5 video games. In fact, if the fracture doesn’t heal as shortly as anticipated, he’ll miss extra time than that, however as issues stand, they shouldn’t be with out one in all their prime blueliners for too lengthy general.
