For those who have known Kris Letang for a long time, watching him mature off the ice and become a husband and a father has been really rewarding to see.
"It was a pleasure to play with him for so many years. I'm glad I got to know him and see him grow as a player, but as a human, too," longtime teammate Marc-Andre Fleury said.
1KRIS: Letang's Path from Montreal to Pittsburgh
Growing up the only child of Claude Fouquet and Christiane Letang, Kris always wanted siblings, but never had the chance. "So, I always wanted to have kids, and see a whole dynamic of a bunch of people," he said.
Letang lived in the city until he was 4 years old, when he and his mother relocated to the suburb of Sainte-Julie, where he spent the rest of his childhood.
"I would compare it to Wexford," Letang said. "You're not in the city, you're like 15 minutes outside the city. It's pretty much just houses, kids, schools."
Claude, who passed away in January, was a salesman who sold 18-wheeler semi-trucks. Christiane worked in different businesses while Kris was growing up before eventually forming a company that distributed pet products she sold a few years ago.
Physically, Letang feels like he doesn't really resemble either of his parents - though he did inherit Claude's long hair. Personality-wise, he takes more after Christiane.
"I feel like my wife wants to say that I have the same character as my mom," he said with a laugh. "I'm a mix, but I think people would say I lean more on my mom's side."
As a kid, Letang says that he was a trouble-maker.
"I was really, really, really active. Couldn't be stopped. Close to being hyperactive," he said. "I couldn't stop moving, couldn't stop doing things. I was a kid that liked to chirp bigger kids just for the sake of it. I got into fights all the time. I got beat up more than I won, but I just thought it was funny."
And it's funny because Victoria has already taken after her dad.
"I would say if I looked right now at my daughter and my son, my daughter looks like what I was doing," Kris said. "No fear of anything, doesn't think anything through."
Meanwhile, her older brother Alex is the opposite.
"He is a kid that is really thinking," Letang said. "He's a smart kid. He's really intellectual."
When Kris was young, for him, it was really all about hockey. He fell in love with the sport after taking the ice for the first time at the age of 3, and immediately showed glimpses of the skating ability that he's become known for.
"There's no background of any athlete in my family," he said. "No brother, no sister. So basically, my parents put me out there and just let me go, and I just loved it. I went in hockey a year earlier because I was able to skate."
Letang's first-ever team in Novice A was called the Volcans, translated to Volcanoes in English.
"Our team was the old LA Kings colors, like the black, silver and white," he said. "Then I remember I was wearing red Easton gloves. They didn't match at all."
As someone who now loves fashion and enjoys shopping and collecting watches, Letang had to laugh.
"I did not have a good style back then, for sure," he said.
Despite growing up just outside of the city, Letang was never a die-hard Canadiens fan. He did go to a few games as a kid, but not a lot, since tickets are expensive and he is not from a wealthy family.
"I was more so a kid that just wanted to go watch the pros," he said.
Letang remembers getting the chance to see Mario Lemieux when he came to town in the early 90s. And while he loved his fellow French-Canadian, the Russian Rocket was actually Letang's idol growing up.
"My favorite player growing up was Pavel Bure," Letang said. "He was exciting to watch. I remember my dad brought me a Bure jersey from Florida when he went there for work."
In Montreal, elementary school consists of kindergarten through sixth grade. From there, the secondary school program is divided into two cycles. Cycle One covers seventh and eighth grade, while Cycle Two covers ninth, tenth and eleventh grade.
Because Letang was so passionate about hockey, when it was time to start Cycle One, the decision was made for him to attend a school called Sport and Study so that he could spend more time on the ice.
"Basically, half of the day you're on the ice, or you're in the gym or off-ice and you do hockey stuff," he said. "The rest of the day, you're doing school. But to be able to be in this program, you need certain grades. And I was not an A student across the board (laughs)."
Letang always liked math, science and physics, and did well in those subjects - to the point where if he wasn't a hockey player, he says he could see himself as an architect. Or, if he were to stay in hockey, Letang might like a GM-type of role.
"Managing numbers and trying to form a team and trying to get pieces all together is more the type of thing I would love to do," he said.
But Letang didn't do as well in subjects like French, English and history, so he had to work extra hard to make sure he didn't lose his scholarship.
"They were paying for my schooling at the private school if I was able to play for the team," Letang said. "So, I went there, and basically, I was playing hockey at school half of the day. I was playing on my city team and I was also playing for the high school team. I was literally on the ice I would say five hours a day, every day."
It was never too much for the hockey-crazed Letang, who credits Christiane for helping to keep it fun for him.
"I never got pushed into hockey," he said. "It was always a question of if I still loved to play the game, and if not, we were just going to stop. She was my biggest supporter."
While Letang was growing up playing hockey in Sainte-Julie, each age group had the following classifications, ranked from highest to lowest: AAA, AA, BB, CC, A, B, C.
Letang was a forward until he was 13 years old, when he made the Bantam BB team out of tryouts. Halfway through the season, he got called up to the AA team as a defenseman, and had a fantastic year.
For the following season, he had to choose between playing a second year of Bantam or trying to make the Midget AAA team. Letang went for the latter, and made the team out of training camp, again as a defenseman.
That meant he had to leave his Sport and Study school to attend the school that the Midget AAA team was associated with, called Collège Antoine-Girouard. And in Letang's first year there, he experienced something that's quite hard to believe considering where he is now.
"I play 10 minutes a game, I'm an average guy," he said. "Actually, during that year, I almost lost all hope that I was going to make hockey a living. Because I'm like wow, these guys are way better than me. I don't play at all."
But Letang stuck with it, and eventually ended up having a terrific playoff performance for Antoine-Girouard as they advanced to the 2003 Air Canada Cup, which is the Midget AAA national championship.
And although Letang's team lost in the final, he was able to start making a name for himself there. But while his hope began to return, Letang was still not convinced, especially with the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League Draft happening that summer.
"I even told my mom, I don't even want to go to the draft," he said. "I think I'm not going to get drafted. I don't think it's going to happen. But she said no, no, no, you're going to be fine."
That's what Letang's agent told him as well, assuring his client that not only would he be selected - he would be selected high.
"He goes, you're crazy. You're going second or third round," Letang said. "And I'm like no, there's no chance. And I end up going middle of second."
Letang went 27th overall to the Val d'Or Foreurs, and attended their training camp that fall. While he performed well, the team already had two top defensemen, including future 10th-overall Vancouver Canucks draft pick Luc Bourdon. He would become Letang's best friend before passing away in a motorcycle accident in 2008.
Though Letang was sent back to Antoine-Girouard following that training camp, this time, he felt much better about his future.
"My agent sat with me, and goes, I know you're not in junior and you're going to miss a year of having scouts in the barn and watching you play because you're Midget AAA," Letang recalled, "but if you have a strong year, once you go to major junior at 17 and you're a confident kid and you have one (good) year to show the scouts, that's our main goal."
And that's what Letang did. Aided by a growth spurt - he went from 5-foot-9 and 158 pounds his first year to 5-foot-11 and 185 pounds his second year - Letang had a tremendous second season with Antoine-Girouard.
"I got in junior at 17 with tons of confidence," Letang said. "I had a great year (in 2004-05), and that's when I got drafted by the Penguins."
