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 no less than the following 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, selecting 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 whole remains to be ok to take a seat 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 be one in all their prime minute-munchers, logging over 22 minutes per contest for the sixteenth straight season whereas taking an everyday activate each particular groups models. That additionally ranks second behind Karlsson.
That is the second damage of observe on Pittsburgh’s again finish this week. The crew can be with out Jack St. Ivany for the following couple of months after he not too long ago 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 deliver somebody up from AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton appears seemingly. Within the interim, Connor Clifton will return to the lineup after being a scratch for the previous week.
This damage comes on the heels of Letang lacking a pair of video games final week attributable to an undisclosed damage. It’s unclear if this announcement pertains to that, and he simply wasn’t capable of hold enjoying by it or if it’s a distinct damage altogether.
If there was ever a great time for a participant to overlook 4 weeks with an damage, that is it. With the NHL shutting down for greater than three weeks for the Olympics, Letang is barely slated to overlook the following 5 video games. In fact, if the fracture doesn’t heal as rapidly 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.
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