SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Without even a hint of insincerity in his voice, Kris Letang insists that this NHL All-Star Weekend is no different than any of his previous four appearances.
Really?
"I've went there before," he was saying. "It's always an honor. It's fun to get recognized for the hard work that you put in."
Yep, this weekend will be Letang's fifth All-Star Game, tying him with Paul Coffey for the most by a Penguins defenseman. Fitting, too. This season, Letang has already surpassed Coffey for the franchise mark in points and his next goal will tie Coffey for the most in team history.
Thanks to the so-called "Last Man In" phase of the selection process, Letang will lace them up at the SAP Center for Friday's skills competition and again for Saturday's game. Why he was included only after a gimmicky fan vote is another matter altogether, but anyone who has watched Letang play this season knows he's played at an All-Star level and has, arguably, been the Penguins' MVP:
Among all NHL defenseman, Letang is third in goals (11), 10th in assists (29) and sixth in points (40). He is the only blueliner to rank among the top six in both points and ice time (he's third at 26:08).
"It's hard to articulate what he means," Mike Sullivan was saying. "He plays in so many key situations for us. He's an elite defenseman. He's a good defender. He's great offensively. He's part of our penalty-kill. He's on our No. 1 power play. When we're defending leads, he's the guy. When we need a goal, he's the guy."
But, c'mon, how could this year's All-Star Game not be different for Letang?
He was an All-Star last season, too. But, if we're being honest, in name only. His numbers suggested he belonged in Tampa last year, but he was plagued by wild bouts of inconsistency and for the first time since 2008-09, he had a minus-rating when playing a full season. On one particularly painful night against the Ducks, he was hearing boos from the home crowd.
It was Letang's most trying professional season, which is saying something considering he missed six weeks in 2013 after suffering a stroke.
Letang missed the final 41 games of the 2016-17 season after a herniated disc in his neck required surgery. The procedure limited him to a spectator for the Penguins' successful title run in the spring of '17 and hampered his ability to train that summer. And it showed.
The indelible image of the Penguins' 2017-18 season is Evgeny Kuznetsov scoring on a breakaway with Letang the last man back, helplessly sliding into the end boards as the puck crossed the goal line. Just like that, the three-peat was over.
That play and that season remain a bit of a sore subject with him and, clearly, he doesn't like talking about it. But it didn't provide him with any extra motivation, he says.
"I wish I could win every year, but I don't think that's always the case," he says. "It's always been a work in progress, especially after the surgery. I was trying to get better. I knew it wasn't going to take four months. It was going to take a while. We just took it day by day."
Letang reported for training camp this September same as he'd been: 6 feet, 201 pounds. But to understand Letang's game is to understand his workout regimen and the level of conditioning required to play 25-plus minutes a night, 100 or so times a year. Even among professional athletes, he's a freak. Free of the pain from the neck surgery that sapped him a year earlier, Letang dedicated himself to train like he had before, if not more, and at the not-so-young age of 31.
"It was huge, obviously," he was saying of his summer. "We know the league is so much different than back in the day. Guys are working out, they have nutritionists. They have all of the tools to get better and it's something I've been using almost my entire career. I had a full summer to have all of those tools to get better."
All of that hard work has allowed Letang to turn back the clock this season (Did you see that video above?).
"I think he's just played unbelievable," Sidney Crosby was telling me. "What he went through was a pretty significant injury. I know how hard he had to work to get to the level he's at. That's not something where you just heal up and get back to that level. There's a lot of work and sweat that goes into that. You have to have the will to do that. He's got that and I'm happy for him."
It's also somehow fitting that this year's All-Star Game is here in San Jose. It was at the SAP Center that the Penguins captured the Stanley Cup on June 12, 2016, with Letang scoring a spectacular game-winning goal in Game 6.
That had been the peak of Letang's career, though that might be subject to change. His resurgent play has sparked many conversations that the All-Star should also be considered for the Norris Trophy. A three-time Masterton nominee, the Norris has eluded him in his 13-year career.
Letang allows that it would be "fun" to be recognized but it's out of his control, he says. Besides, the only award he really cares about is that big, shiny silver one that's presented to one team.
"I don't even know anymore," says Letang, a Norris finalist in 2013. "It was mentioned before. It doesn't really matter to me. I think this is a team game and, in our dressing room, I have had the taste of winning the Stanley Cup three times. That is all that I want. I don't want anything else. I don't care, really, about those trophies."
Winning the Norris might be the cherry on top but it's not going to define Letang or his season. That he's been able to overcome so much to get back to the level he's at is what defines him.
"He's an extremely hard worker," Sullivan said. "He cares so much about his personal game, but also about the Penguins and helping this team win. I was always a believer that he would recapture his game and he's certainly played some really consistent hockey for us."
Letang and Crosby will begin their All-Star participation tonight with the annual Media Day, 8-10 p.m. Pittsburgh time, inside San Jose's Civic Auditorium. The skills competition is Friday, 9 p.m., at SAP Center, the main event the following day at 8 p.m.
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