There are a lot of things to like about the Pittsburgh Penguins right now, and even with Wednesday’s overtime loss to the Carolina Hurricanes they just completed a mostly successful five-game road trip against some of the best teams in the NHL. You would have liked to have seen them hold on to that late lead and defend better on Wednesday, but every point matters and in the context of the road trip as a whole that was a good point to get. All six of the points they got on that road trip were good points to get.
Wednesday’s game did, however, continue to magnify what has become a growing problem for the Penguins this season, and it is the play of defenseman Kris Letang.
Like I said here about a week ago, this is a tough spot for the Penguins given what Letang has meant to them for so long. He is one of the giants in franchise history. Not quite on the Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr level, but definitely just one tier below them. Consistently brilliant, often underappreciated, a three-time champion, the scorer of a Stanley Cup clinching goal, and a wildly accomplished career that arguably makes him the best defenseman in franchise history. Paul Coffey might have been the best defenseman to ever put on a Penguins sweater, but no defenseman has had a better *career* with the Penguins.
He has been a great, great player for a long, long time. But there is a line you have to balance right now between career accomplishment and current value. When it comes to the current value and current level of play, Letang has been a difficult watch, and it was again disturbingly obvious on Wednesday night. Everything just seemed … off.
He was one of the biggest common denominator’s in pretty much everything bad that was happening against them. The decision-making with the puck was brutal as he highly contributed to the growing number of turnovers they struggled with. From a numbers perspective, he was one of the least effective players on the ice, something that has become increasingly common.
- Over the past 10 games the Penguins have been outscored 7-12 with him on the ice during 5-on-5 play, the fourth-worst mark on the team over that stretch (ahead of only Ilya Solovyov, Blake Lizotte and Avery Hayes), while their expected goals share of 35.19 percent is the second-worst, ahead of only Kevin Hayes.
- Over the past 25 games the Penguins have been outscored 12-20 in his 5-on-5 minutes, the second-worst mark on the team (ahead of only Avery Hayes). Their 45.8 expected goals share with him on the ice over that stretch is the worst mark on the team, ahead of nobody.
- All of this is happening while he has received the heaviest amount of offensive zone starts of all defensemen on the team.
It is not good.
The play is trending in the wrong direction when he is on the ice, and the results are getting increasingly worse.
It also does not matter who he is paired with.
Let’s just look at that past 25 game sampling.
The Penguins have used eight different defense pairings that have played at least 30 minutes of 5-on-5 hockey together during that stretch. Four of them have a negative goal-differential. Kris Letang has played on three of those defense pairings with the negative goal-differential. Of the four worst pairings in terms of expected goal share, Letang has again played on three of them, including the current pairing with Ryan Shea that has managed only a 29 percent expected goal share over this stretch. That is by far the worst pairing on the team in this data sample.
In terms of expected goals against, the Letang-Brett Kulak and Letang-Shea pairings have been by far the worst. Only three pairings have allowed more than 2.65 expected goals over that stretch. Two of them have included Letang. Those pairings are at 3.26 (Letang-Kulak) and a brutal 4.62 (Letang-Shea).
They are just getting absolutely cooked defensively when he is on the ice, and it does not matter what other forward or defensemen is on the ice with him.
If it was anybody else that did not have his standing within the organization or history, we would be talking about a healthy scratch. If we are being honest and objective about it, we should probably be talking about that anyway. It is just that there is not really anybody else to play at the moment, or in the near future.
Sam Girard will hopefully be back soon, but Connor Clifton or Solovyov are the likely scratches when that happens.
As much as Letang has struggled, I am not sure Clifton or Solovyov, or even Jack St. Ivany, are better options for a potential top-four role.
Perhaps the most frustrating thing about Letang’s play at the moment is that there is still the potential for him to be useful.
For as much as he has struggled during 5-on-5 play, his penalty kill work has still been extremely effective. That alone might be keeping him in the lineup.
The biggest problem with his play seems to be that he is still trying to play and do the things he did 10 years ago, even though he is now 37 years old instead of 27 years old. He has not adjusted his game to his current limitations. The fact he has been so effective on the PK (and, again, he absolutely has been) leads me to believe he could transition into a more steady, reliable player if he adjusted his focus and played more to his current skillset. But it needs to happen. Because at the moment he has finally become the player his biggest critics thought he was for the bulk of his career. He is going to play. The Penguins have few other options and, whether it is right or wrong, they are simply not going to sit him. They need a better version of him. They need it quickly.
