The discussion on Letang is always interesting ...... these are just my opinions and I respect the opinions of others which may be different ...... He is not the same player as he was at 25 and I'm not adverse to trading him depending on the return, but I personally wouldn't get rid of him just as a salary dump ...... I think his value compared to his salary (7.25 million) is much better than Schultz (5.5 million) and Johnson (3.25 million), two third pairing defensemen who were bad (you could get two defensemen to take their place for under 1 million each) ...... those two should be dumped for both cap purposes and poor performance.
If Letang's salary is high compared to his production it is not by a large amount and I say that because I don't believe his production has fallen off drastically like some of you do ..... he wasn't good in the 4 playoff games but how many were ....... if you use +/- as the metric to evaluate Letang, you probably have a 50% chance of being wrong as it is a flawed metric ....... if you look at Letang's advanced stats from the regular season, they are overall good and are in general comparable to his average yearly stats over his career ....... he isn't perfect and admittedly his major negative stat was too many giveaways but overall by advanced metrics he played well this past season ...... Letang may be the 12th highest paid defenseman today (one or two more will pass his salary next year), but he also was 14th in scoring for defensemen (44 points in 61 games) and 11 of the 13 ahead of him played in more games ..... if Letang would have scored two more points, he would have been in the top 10 for defensemen in scoring.
In today's game, a big thing is puck possession ..... in the other teams end ! ........ that means most teams look for defensemen who are good skating, mobile, puck movers (and it really helps if they are physical as well) (Sullivan's system doesn't work well without them) that can get the puck out of their end by retrieving pucks and skating or passing them up to the forwards quickly and who help keep it in the opponents end by pinching/activating whenever they need to .... they also need to get pucks on net from the point with traffic in front hopefully ...... if most of your defensemen are OK in the defensive zone but not good puck movers or not good playing in the offensive zone, you are going to be playing in your end more then otherwise and you will be stifling players like Crosby and Malkin ...... my point is that Letang even though I think he has lost half a step in speed is still our best puck moving D-man ...... (also, being good in the offensive zone is not necessarily measured by how many points a D-man scores) ..... if we trade Letang, we would have to bring in at least 1 top 4 D-man to replace him IMO or maybe 2 (if you wanted to maybe move Pettersson to the 3rd line to strengthen it).
As for getting rid of Letang to dump his salary that is easier said then done ...... the majority of teams are going to be tight with the salary cap next season making a trade for us to dump his salary more difficult (he also has a modified no trade and no movement clause) ..... if traded for draft picks, we will likely have to retain a not insignificant part of his salary ...... if traded for players to a team with cap problems, we will likely have to take close to his salary back in new players and we aren't going to be receiving a D-man as good as him in return from that team leaving our defense really weak without other trades/acquisitions as above.
Again, I'm not against trading Letang if it makes sense and is a good hockey trade...... me thinks it is going to be an interesting off season.
We are not that far apart on Letang. He’s definitely not the same player he was when he was 25 years-old. I don’t think there’s any question about that.
I just also don’t think there’s any question that he is the most underrated Pittsburgh Penguin of all-time.
Hands down! This is no doubt about it.
The man has enjoyed a Hall of Fame career and half the city has spent the better part of the past seven or eight years trying to run the guy out of town.
Why?
Who the hell knows why? Because people are goofy, that’s why.
Washington Capitals fans once did the exact same thing with Larry Murphy, another Hall if Fame defenseman. They thought he sucked and was overrated and blah, blah, blah. Then, the team traded him away and he went on to win a bunch of Stanley Cups with Pittsburgh and Detroit.
You know, because he totally sucked.
For whatever reason, every time the Penguins lose a series to anyone, half the people will be convinced that it is all Letang’s fault. I’ve seen it every year for the past seven or eight years. Then, the next year he comes back and he’s again by leaps and bounds our best defenseman and people simply refuse to acknowledge it.
LOL! It’s just ridiculous.
Letang didn’t have a bad series against Montreal. He certainly could’ve provided more offense than he did, but that could be said of everyone on the team. He was really good otherwise.
The third pairing was problem there. They were on the ice for nearly all of the goals against. Instead, we’re talking about the first pairing. And, let’s be honest, we’re not even really talking about the first pairing. The other guy is completely exempt from criticism. We only talk about 58 because apparently he is alone out there on the ice.
It is textbook scapegoating. That’s what is happening here and it has been happening for a long time.
And Pittsburgh is definitely not going trade him this off-season.
Because they can’t.
You can’t afford to give up your best offensive defenseman, your best defensive defenseman and your best even strength defenseman all in one deal unless you get something really strong in return – which is it going to happen for a 34 year-old.
The Penguins are very unlikely to win the Stanley Cup next year. That means, a year ahead of time, I am guaranteeing you, we can look forward to get more examples of people insisting that Kris Letang is primarily to blame for the Penguins first (or second) round loss to (fill in the blank).
That’s just how the song girls nowadays and it’s how it has gone for almost a decade now.
Next year, he’ll make another All-Star team, he’ll lead the team minutes, he’ll lead the team in goals amongst defensemen, he’ll lead the team in points among defensemen, and again, when they lose, it’ll be all his fault.
Rinse. Wash. Repeat.
“We totally need to trade him this time because his play has fallen off the ledge. It’s all his fault. Blah, blah, blah...”
Every. Single. Year.
Look, if we can get a fair return for him, let’s do it. That would be awesome! Can we get a good young defenseman for him? Someone who can also play all those minutes? If so, I’m in!
However, if it’s, “We need to get rid of him because he sucks when he’s not the player he once was and we will be just fine without him...”
Nope! Absolutely not!
That’s a comically ridiculous strategy and it would absolutely kill us.
