1KRIS: Letang's Early Years Included Stops in WBS
So, while there was already some familiarity there when they both became part of the Penguins' 2005 NHL Draft Class, Crosby wasn't quite sure of his new teammate's potential.
"He was kind of undersized for a D back then," Crosby said. "I didn't know what he was going to be, whether he was going to be more of like a power-play guy, or a smaller, steady guy."
Of course, Crosby turned pro with Pittsburgh that fall, while Letang returned to the Foreurs. He went off during his second full season there, scoring 25 goals and 68 points in 60 games while winning the Emile "Butch" Bouchard Trophy as the QMJHL's best defenseman.
"Once he played the next year in junior, I started to follow him a little bit more," Crosby said. "He was playing like 30 minutes a night - playing PP, PK, every position - but he was getting a lot of points. So, you could tell that he had an offensive side that I probably didn't see my first year in juniors when we were both 16. I knew he had some great skating ability and really good offensive skill by the time we started to play together."
That ended up happening in the 2006-07 season, as Letang had a terrific training camp at 19 years old, and the Penguins decided to give him some regular season games for his development. "Because I believe he's going to be a special player," said Michel Therrien, Pittsburgh's head coach at the time.
Letang made his NHL debut on Oct. 5 versus Philadelphia, shortly before Evgeni Malkin did the same on Oct. 18 versus New Jersey - the first game that all three members of the core leadership trio appeared in together.
Letang is a joy to watch with his incredible skating ability and offensive talent, but he still laughs when thinking about his first shift in that game against the Flyers, where he logged a total of 15:01 minutes. "It was not a pretty one," he admitted.
Letang hopped over the boards at Mellon Arena and right away, lost his stick in a battle, because he didn't want to get called for a penalty with all of the rule changes that were put in place coming out of the 2004-05 lockout to cut down on obstruction.
"So, I dropped my stick, and when I went to get it, the puck got rimmed, hit my stick, the puck went the other way… I didn't know what to do. I kind of froze," Letang said. "End up taking my stick and sprint to the bench and just take the change. My heart was racing. But I think I got the guys laughing on the bench, so I think it was a plus."
Letang played in seven total games with the Penguins during that month of October before once again going back to Val d'Or for the third and final time. "He was disappointed, but we told him to go through that process and go through the World Junior Championship, and start from there," Therrien said.
Letang captained Team Canada at the 2007 tournament, winning gold with the national team for a second straight year. After recording 12 goals and 31 points in 19 playoff games with the Foreurs, he played one postseason contest with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the spring of 2007. Then, in the fall of 2007, "this is where it's getting interesting," Therrien said with a laugh.
Therrien wanted to keep Letang with the NHL club after another impressive training camp, because "if you look at his stats, I want to keep him. I want to keep him on my team, because I love the player, love the personality of the player." But he couldn't, as the Penguins had a surplus of defensemen on one-way contracts… so Letang headed to the northeastern part of the state to play in 10 total games for WBS, picking up a goal and six assists.
Once again, Letang was disappointed, and so was Therrien. "Because as a coach, you see the potential… I wanted him to start the season in Pittsburgh." But it was a business decision the Penguins felt they had to make the time.
"You go into the minors, you see it's a different type of environment, different type of game. So, you have to learn, you try to learn, even if this situation is not ideal or what you thought it would be," Letang said. "You still have to find a way to learn different things and improve on the mental and on-ice stuff. So I think that it was a way to grow for me."
The whole time, Therrien was ready to jump at the first chance he had to bring Letang up - which came in mid-November as they were dealing with some injuries, mostly at the forward position. Therrien went to Ray Shero, Pittsburgh's GM at the time, and said, "we should call up Kris Letang."
"He said to me, we need a forward," Therrien recounted. "I said, Letang is our best prospect, and he could play forward. I'm trying to sell my idea, so we could do that. We kind of go back and forth on it. Finally, he gets called up. I think he played only one period - maybe not even a full one - as a forward before I made the switch. The rest is history, you know?"
Letang went on to play his first full season with the Penguins in 2007-08, appearing in 63 regular-season games and 16 playoff games during their run to the Stanley Cup Final against Detroit. During that series, Letang received absolutely heartbreaking news. His best friend Luc Bourdon had been killed when his new motorcycle collided with a tractor-trailer early in the afternoon on May 29, 2008.
"It was so tough to handle it because Luc was one of my great friends, someone I can always talk to about my tough times, and someone that always liked to have fun," Letang said the following day.
Luc and Kris had shared everything together. They had been D partners and roommates with Val d'Or, and had also been teammates on those gold medal-winning squads at the World Junior Championship. They had plans to go on vacation together that summer, and train together in Montreal.
"To see Kris so devastated was tough," Shero said.
Letang skated with his teammates at their practice the next day, but didn't appear in a game the rest of the series as the Penguins lost to the Red Wings six games. He returned home without his friend alongside him, and somehow managed to come back stronger than ever.
Letang thrived during the regular season, and really broke out during the 2009 Eastern Conference semifinals versus Washington. Letang, then 22, scored three goals in that series - including the overtime winner in Game 3 - as the Penguins won in seven.
"I think that winning and scoring in 2008-09 and having a bigger and bigger responsibility on the ice gave him confidence as a player and as a team, too, to be like, okay - this guy shows up when it counts," said Max Talbot, the Game 7 hero versus Detroit. "So I think all of this made him who he is now."
When Talbot reflects back on who Letang was then, he can't help but chuckle. So does Marc-Andre Fleury.
"Tanger was quieter, more shy. Still obsessed with his hair," Flower joked. "He was obviously very talented, still confident on the ice. Maybe not as much off the ice. He got picked on a bit… but I guess all the young guys got picked on a bit."
"Yeah, Tanger… I feel like he got it hard from the veterans," Max said with a laugh. "We were just jealous that he's so good looking. I know that's why I did it. Cutting his ties… I remember some other players hammered his shoes to his stall. But he always took it laughing. And the reason probably why is because he was first of all, so good. But also, he brought his personality. He was loose, and he was fun. So yeah, he was great."
When told these stories, P.O Joseph broke out in a huge smile. "I could definitely see that," he said.
Letang has taken the Penguins rookie defenseman under his wing this season, mentoring him the way older veterans from his home province, like Alain Nasreddine and Philippe Boucher, did in the early years of his career. Letang said he always had a "million" questions - which was confirmed by Crosby - and those guys did their best to answer them.
"The first few camps, I would say Alain Nasreddine took care of me. Afterwards, it was an older team, so I was living almost by myself downtown, since Max was in South Side," Letang said. "When Philippe Boucher came, he was also living downtown and we were right next to each other, so he kind of took me under his wing, too. Like, I know he was not there for a long time, but I spent a lot of time with him. Obviously, he's a veteran of that league, so he taught me a lot of things."
Letang has tried to impart that to Joseph, who has been living with Kris since training camp. One example is that Letang always tells Joseph that he has to be meaner in front of the net or in the corners when guys are bigger, even though he knows P.O is a softie away from the rink.
"He just showed me examples of him growing up in the league, how he had to do that," Joseph said. "I mean, the league was definitely different. Like, back then, the amount of crosschecks you could give back then was a little different. He just helped me in my game in general."
Without prompting, or knowing any of that, Talbot mentioned how much of an impact Kris can have on a young player like P.O - and said the growth Letang has shown from his first year to now is truly remarkable.
"Yes, we're talking on the ice, the great career and player he became. But especially off the ice, just being such a great teammate for this team, and standing up in pressure situations, scoring big goals for this franchise, and also being becoming the leader that he became is pretty great to see," Talbot said. "He developed into that. It was not something that necessarily he had the first year, it took him years. That's what's so beautiful about this, is the growth into his personality and the way that he conducts himself in the room to become the amazing leader and teammate he is now."
