Pensburgh wrapup: Kris Letang

I think next season the Pens will be expecting Letang the chip in offensively. While Gonch was here Letang wasnt relied on to score goals, now he will be. He struggled at times this past season no doubt, but the potential for Letang is unreal. I’m excited about the idea of him having a full season of playing on the PP. I think w/o Gonchar there he wont feel like he needs to default to gonch so much. He can step up and show what he can do. I’m not sure theres a player on the team that has as much untapped potential as Letang. I cant wait to see what he does next year.

I think he will show much more consistency next year, though, at 23, he will still have some ups and downs I’m sure. I hope that a strong defensive minded forwarded is added to the line-up, as do we all. Letang and the team will learn from that and be that much better for it. I look forward to the promise I see in Letang. Even his mental make-up seems to be settling a bit, which is terrific since this is the area I worry most about with Letang. His skills are there, though.

Oh, and great choice of picture. I suspect KatieLynn and others will enjoy it :)

I heard Dan Bylsma say on a radio show after Letang signed his contract say that there are not many players in the NHL that are up to the level of Kris Letang, but that he is young and he is inconsistent at times. I think he is one of the most underrated players on the Penguin team. Defense takes longer to learn, and don’t forget that Letang played his first NHL game as a teenager. (He scored in that game in October where it was the first time 3 teenagers scored: Crosby, Staal & Letang). Letang had a permanent NHL spot in November 2007 when he was just 20. Letang’s 5 playoff goals are one shy of the record set by Larry Murphy for defensemen. He has unique skills and hopefully, this year will put them all together on a more consistent basis. He is such a strong skater and also has a physical edge to his game that often gets overlooked. If Gonch leaves, Goligoski may run the power play, especially since Letang being a right-handed shot is better on the left point, but Letang will be looked at to step up his game to fill much of Gonch’s role.

Letang is going to explode next year. He won’t have huge, Gonchar like offensive numbers, but he is going to turn into an offensive shutdown defensemen. He knows how to defend talented forwards, and he knows how to cover his position. He’ll start hitting the net more, too, but people what people will see next year is him turning into a solid defenseman.

With only 3 goals on 174 shots in the regular season, Letang is third to last in league in terms of shooting percentage at 1.7%. He was only in front of Nick Shultz and Shawn Thornton, by the way.
People (including me) have seemed to focus on Tanger missing the net. I didn’t realize how low his percentage was when he actually did

In the playoffs he ranked 2nd among all defensemen with a 21.7% shooting percentage, and 15th among all skaters. For some reason, he lost his scoring touch during the regular season, maybe because he was concentrating on his defensive game. Hopefully, it will continue next season. If it does, look out.

When paired with Orpik, Bylsma referred to the two as his shut down pair. Let’s look at that for a moment and compare them to Scuderi and Gill. First, both skate far better than Scuderi and Gill which allows them to cover a greater area and to recover from their or other’s errors. Second, both Orpik and Letang are aggressive defensemen, meaning they tend to attack the puck carrier rather than retreat, skating backwards to the goal as was the style of Gill and Scuderi. Both Orpik and Letang hit, Scuderi and Gill did less hitting. The hitting and aggressive style works both ways. They result in a far better transition game and effective defensive zone puck management; however, they result in a less positionally sound game. Needless to say, Orpik and Letang are a far better fit with Bylsma’s up tempo, aggressive, puck moving style. One of the reasons that Gill and Scuderi had so many blocked shots is because they could not move the puck out of the defensive zone. Clearly, Letang is an exceptional defensive defenseman. He is far bigger and stronger than writers seem to think and is likely the best skater on the Pens’ team. I shall address his offensive capacity in a later post.

Offensively he is a gifted player as he demonstrated in the playoffs this last season and in the cup year. He has a cannon of a slap shot (ask Varly) and a wrister that is harder than most slappers. We saw him break the glass with a wrister in practice. He seems to try to pick corners and, as a result misses the goal. However his shot/miss ratio is not much worse than Gonchar or Goligoski. He is the best skater on the team and can channel Bobby Orr at times. As with defense, his fast hands are quite valuable around the crease. The power play will have more movement with Letang who can shoot from the point, pass accurately and quickly in any zone and can take the puck to the net with his skating and puck handling skills. If this kid can put it all together consistently and in a sixty minute sustained manner, he wins the Norris, hands down That is how skilled and talented he is. Clearly he can be “the man” as he was at Val d’Or, once Gonchar leavs or retires.

Stoopidful – I see the same things in Letang that you are pointing out – I think his talent is too often overlooked, especially in the media. I don’t understand why he is always lumped together with Goligoski, because they are not the same type of defensemen and Letang’s all around game is much more skilled. You look at Goligoski and see a good player with offensive skill who needs a lot of work still in his own wend, but you look at Letang and see a star in the making. Don’t forget, Letang is 2 years younger than Goligoski who turns 25 in July. Letang is a lot stronger than he looks. I heard Jay Caufield say right after game 6 of the Montreal series that Letang is probably one of the strongest skaters in the NHL. I do hope he can put all his talent and skill together consistently, that will be his challenge for the upcoming season or two. I see Bylsma and Shero having a lot of confidence in him and I hope he is rewarded for it.