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Blink and you may have missed Kris Letang.
NEWS ALERT: #Pens recall defenseman Simon Despres; place Kris Letang on Injured Reserve: pens.pe/10dZEme
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) March 27, 2013
Gotta be disappointing for Letang, who was just activated to play in last night's game vs. Montreal and then was hobbled early in the game by blocking a shot. Reports from Quebec on twitter said a broken toe, which isn't so bad but also a re-aggravation of his prior injury was suffered last night too, which is must worse.
Personally for Letang, it's another bump in the road. Hell, he still leads all defensemen in the league in points, and was picking up steam for a possible Norris trophy winning season. With all these injuries now that seems unlikely at this point.
More importantly, the Penguins have to get Letang healthy and keep him healthy. While they have no shortage of defensemen (9), they do have a shortage of Kris Letang's at the moment. That's a much bigger deal. Playoffs are a little over a month away, and getting their #1 defenseman in full form for them now appears to be one of the biggest storylines of the season now that Pittsburgh has runaway with the Atlantic division and will lockup a top seed in the conference without much drama.