On Nov. 4 in San Jose, Sidney Crosby picked up a puck in stride just outside the offensive blue line and carried into the zone. He dropped a pass between his legs to Kris Letang, who patiently deked around Sharks goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood and tucked a backhand into an open net.
That goal helped Letang move closer to 700 career points, reaching that milestone on Saturday in Carolina. He became the third active defenseman behind teammate Erik Karlsson and Brent Burns - both on the ice in that contest - and 28th in NHL history to reach the mark. Not to mention Letang is now just the 10th blueliner to record 700 points with one franchise.
The captain has connected with his longtime teammate for many of those points, and he describes Letang’s finishing ability as “pretty good.”
“Especially for a defenseman,” Crosby added with a grin. “He's made some great plays over the years. His legs allow him to get up in the play and create offense, and he's in good spots.”
Letang’s skating ability is the reason why he actually played mostly forward until he was around 13 years old. Growing up in Montreal, he mainly looked up to players at that position.
Of course, he loved Mario Lemieux, getting the chance to watch him play against the Canadiens in the early 1990s. Letang wore Jaromir Jagr’s No. 68 all throughout his childhood, and another favorite was Pavel Bure, with Kris’ late father Claude bringing home a jersey from the Russian Rocket’s time with the Panthers after a work trip to Florida.
But while those legends of the game were ultimately known for how they put the puck in the net, Letang was always more of a defensive forward.
“I was a good skater, so I would score goals. But as a forward, I was not thinking fully about offense,” he said.
So, when Letang transitioned into playing defense full-time, the script flipped.
“I was more of an offensive D-man that loved to hit everything,” he said.
That remains a somewhat accurate description of Letang’s game to this day, 17 years into his NHL career, as his teammates marvel at his commitment to compete.
“I didn't realize until I got here how hard he plays,” Marcus Pettersson said. “He's so skilled and so good on his skates, but man – he really plays hard. He defends hard and he eats up a lot of minutes for us. Some play a lot of minutes, but it's tough to play those minutes. But he plays in tough minutes and hard minutes. He goes out there and plays his (butt) off for us every night.
“I mean, obviously, like, I’m a hockey fan too, and I've watched for years,” said Letang’s current defensive partner, Ryan Graves. “You watch Pens highlights over the last 15 years and you see the first power play out there, you see things like that, you see goals. But I think something that you don't realize is his attention to the way he defends and things like that.”
And this year in particular, the Penguins have been asking their franchise blueliner to lean into the defensive side of his game even more with the addition of Karlsson, the reigning Norris Trophy winner as the league’s top defenseman. The respect and admiration for Letang’s willingness to do just that is evident from his teammates and coach.
“I think Tanger’s done an amazing job in just embracing the role that we're casting him in,” Mike Sullivan said. “I think he's a very unselfish player and a terrific teammate with how he's handled the circumstance. We've asked him to help us in more of a defensive role, but still continue to bring the offense that he brings 5-on-5 and on one of our power plays. I think he's handled it with incredible professionalism.
“He just wants to win. He wants to win, and whatever it takes to win, he's all in. He's made that clear to everyone, and I think his actions certainly speak to that.”
Letang understands how much having a player like Karlsson in the mix is going to help the Penguins do just that. Letang used the example of being able to roll two pairings when Pittsburgh is down a goal instead of him going every other shift and really pushing to manufacture offense. Now, it’s not as forced.
He still leads the team in average time on ice per game – it’s just that those minutes are distributed differently. It was a bit of an adjustment at the start getting used to his deployment on special teams, going from the first power-play unit to the second, and the second penalty kill unit to the first.
“But the mindset has been the same as usual,” Letang said. “It doesn’t change for me one bit.”
He still goes out night after night and leaves it all out there, with his work ethic and dedication to being at his best on a regular basis standing out to Karlsson in their first weeks together as teammates.
“I mean, I knew that from playing against him that he rarely had a bad game or a day off,” Karlsson said. “So, to be able to see it continuously throughout 15 games, the consistency level being so high, I think is the main thing about him and what makes him so good. It's good to see and it's nice to see. It makes you kind of have to do the same, and it makes me better as well.”
