Over the past couple of years, defenseman Kris Letang seemed to be the one member of the Pittsburgh Penguins big-three that had slowed down the most. Not only in terms of offensive production, but just general, overall impact. Father time was catching up, and the adjustment to that did not seem to be going well. There were even more signs of that over the first couple of games of the 2026-27 season.
But over the past couple of weeks there are some encouraging signs that maybe Letang still has some game left, and that maybe he is adjusting to his new limitations and what he can and can not do.
That has especially been the case since he has not been paired up with Trevor van Riemsdyk, an early-season pairing that just did not seem to click the way the Penguins might have hoped.
While Letang has not really made a significant contribution offensively with just six asssists (and zero goals), his defensive impacts have been shockingly strong.
When he has been on the ice during 5-on-5 play, the Penguins have allowed just four goals in 198 minutes of hockey, and only 1.96 expected goals per 60 minutes.
That expected goal number is the lowest among the team's defensemen (minimum 100 minutes played), and the third-lowest of any player on the team (trailing only forwards Connor Dewar and Blake Lizotte).
Among 186 defensemen across the NHL, it is 11th.
Those are promising numbers. The Penguins do have an extremely high save percentage with Letang on the ice (over .940) which is probably not a sustainable number, so there might be some additional goals against to come his way just through some regression, but the fact there are not a lot of chances being allowed is an encouraging sign that could help mitigate that somewhat.
It is also eye-opening how much more effective he has been paired with literally any other defenseman on the roster outside of van Riemsdyk.
There are some small sample sizes here with each of these pairings, but the overall performance is pretty consistent among the pairings.
| Pairing |
Minutes Played |
GF |
GA |
xGF/60 |
xGA/60 |
xGF% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kris Letang-Trevor van Riemsdyk |
57.57 |
1 |
1 |
2.32 |
3.39 |
40.7 |
| Kris Letang-Spencer Stastney |
53.52 |
1 |
0 |
2.70 |
1.03 |
72.3 |
| Kris Letang-Ilya Solovyov |
36.58 |
1 |
0 |
1.61 |
1.49 |
51.9 |
| Kris Letang-Sam Girard |
16.27 |
0 |
2 |
3.23 |
1.59 |
67.0 |
| Kris Letang-Declan Carlile |
16.16 |
1 |
1 |
5.12 |
1.59 |
76.2 |
I am going to chalk this up to three things that are likely working in harmony here to produce these results.
Early season small sample size noise that is, to some degree, driven by on-ice save percentage. You can't just ignore that possibility, especially given the larger sampling of of performance we have had from him over the previous year or two. Even though there have not been a lot of chances against, some of those pucks that are getting through to the goalies are going to find their way in the back of the net at some point. The expected goal against numbers are highly encouraging, but I think we do need to see more of that over an extended period of time before we can say for certain that it's a for-real improvement.
Less is more. And by that I mean, less ice-time. A smaller role. He is averaging just a little more than 20 minutes of ice-time per game, which is the lowest number since his rookie season. Even as recently as two years ago the Penguins were asking him to play 23 minutes per game. In the first half of the 2025-26 season, that number was still up in the 22-23 minute per game range. He's a borderline Hockey Hall of Famer. He has had the best career of any defenseman in a Penguins uniform. He's been great for a long, long time. But at some point you are not capable of playing that sort of role anymore. Everybody needs to adjust to that. He needed to adjust his game. The Penguins needed to adjust their expectations and role for him.
Just getting him with the right partner. Or in this case, not putting him with the wrong partner. I liked the idea of signing van Riemsdyk in free agency because he has been such a solid defender throughout his career. Nothing flashy; just steady. But even when Letang was at his peak and one of the best skaters in the league, he never, ever, at any point, played well next to defenders like van Riemsdyk. The Brooks Orpik-Rob Scuderi pairings never worked well. The idea of putting him with "a safety net" never played out. He was always at his best next to players that could skate well, move the puck, and could complement his style of play. Stastney, Solovyov, Girard and even Carlile to some extent are significantly better at playing that style of game than van Riemsdyk is.
If nothing else, it is an encouraging development to see from a player that the Penguins are going to need to play well. Let's see how it plays out.
