To say that Kris Letang was not himself last season would be the understatement of the century. He put up 51 points but he wasn’t as sharp defensively as could be expected in previous years. Letang would often get burned very badly on goals. He was mostly responsible for the two back-breaking goals in Game 5 against the Washington Capitals in the playoffs, a loss which put the Pittsburgh Penguins in a 3-2 series deficit. With a new season though comes new opportunity and through six games, Letang is showing the signs that he’s getting back to where he was.
Kris Letang Continues Great Start to His Season
Offensively
You couldn’t ask for a better start to the season for Letang, offensively speaking. Through six games, he has four goals and eight points, two of those goals coming in the first game of the season. Against the Washington Capitals, he scored the overtime goal, giving the game to the Penguins by a final score of 7-6.
It was the start Letang was looking for this season and it’s continued in every game. He scored his 100th goal on Friday night in Toronto against the Leafs. Even though it was an empty net goal, he’s just the second Penguins defenseman to score 100 goals in franchise history. Paul Coffey, who played just four and a half seasons for the Penguins, scored 108. Letang could break that record this season.
He’s also driving possession as well. In three of the six games Pittsburgh has played, Letang has had a Corsi-For of 60 percent or higher. He was nearly 60 percent in the game against Toronto but he finished at 59.68 percent for all situations. When you combine the six games, his Corsi-For comes out to be 57.5 percent. It’s a great place to be at as he finished last year at 55 percent. If he continues to put up these kinds of numbers on the top pair next to Brian Dumoulin, Pittsburgh is going to be very hard to stop throughout the season and likely into the playoffs.
Defensively
After being just a complete mess in the defensive zone last season with simple mistakes, Letang has cleaned them up to start the season. There haven’t been those missed assignments that plagued him last season when Dumoulin had to bail him out so many times. He also isn’t making ill-fated passes that he tried too many times last year. Some of his struggles also came with his on-ice save percentage being below .900. Whether it was Matt Murray, Casey DeSmith, Tristan Jarry, or Antti Niemi, no one seemed to be making a save while he was on the ice. Through six games this year, there’s already been a difference in that regard.
The Numbers
Letang has been on the ice for a combined 13 goals for (including all three against Toronto) and been on the ice for nine goals against. When you take it down to just 5V5 though, it’s still pretty good. He’s been on the ice for eight goals for and six goals against. His shots-against has been below his shots-for in every game except one, the Montreal away game. In the Toronto game, he was on the ice for 15 shots for Pittsburgh and eight for Toronto at 5V5. He and Dumoulin did an outstanding job defensively in limiting Auston Matthews and John Tavares throughout the game. There was a play when Tavares undressed Letang early in the game that led to a scoring chance but that was it.
Even in that crazy Capitals game, he allowed 12 shots at 5V5 compared to being on the ice for 16 for Pittsburgh. And just for good measure, in the Vancouver game for this past week when the team was almost sleepwalking, he was only on the ice for 10 shots allowed and had 16 for in all situations. He showed up for that game as he has for every game this season in a big way.
This has been a dream start for Letang at both ends of the ice as he tries to show the hockey world that last year was a fluke. He had a full summer to train going into this season and it’s already paying dividends. There’s no doubt that he could generate Norris Trophy buzz if he keeps this play up, just as he did in 2016 when Mike Sullivan took over as coach.
(All data via Natural Stat Trick and Hockey Reference)
