CRANBERRY, Pa. -- Kris Letang said that he had "pretty much all the symptoms" during his experience with COVID-19.
"Congestion, headaches, pressure in the forehead, coughing, lost taste and smell, body aches, a lot of pain in the lower back and stuff like that," he said. "That lasted I would say between four and five days, and after that I was just getting better and better every day."
Letang was removed from the COVID protocol on Monday, shortly after clearing a final cardiac exam. He skated on his own that day, and then again on Tuesday while the rest of the team had a scheduled day off. He then rejoined his teammates for practice on Wednesday at the Lemieux Complex. He skated on the top defense pairing alongside Mike Matheson, and worked in his old spot on the top power play unit.
"I felt pretty good today," Letang said after the practice. "I skated after the guys on Monday, I skated on my own Tuesday for an hour and a half at pretty high intensity. So today was another step in the right direction, and I felt pretty good."
Mike Sullivan said that he thought Letang had a "good practice," and didn't rule him out for a return to the lineup in Thursday's game against the Flyers at PPG Paints Arena. The plan is to see how Letang responds to this practice, have him skate again Thursday morning, then make a decision from there. The Penguins won't have a morning skate on Thursday (even an optional one), so we likely won't get an answer on Letang's availability for the game until Sullivan speaks at 5 p.m. beforehand.
With Brian Dumoulin, Chad Ruhwedel, and Marcus Pettersson all on the COVID list, the Penguins only have five healthy defenseman without Letang. If Letang isn't able to play, then Taylor Fedun or perhaps Cam Lee would seem to be the most likely call-ups from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Both Fedun and Lee have spent all of this season playing on the right side, though only Fedun is naturally on the right side as a right-handed defensemen.
Letang said that he isn't "where I want to be" right now, after dealing with his symptoms for several days and being off the ice for over a week. But he's making progress, and feels better today after skating on his own for two days.
"The first four days, you can't even do anything because you're so tired and you have all the symptoms," he said of his experience. "The last five days, I would say I wish I could have exercised. But for the protocol, I had to wait and get all my screening done. As soon as I stepped on the ice, you feel it in the lungs. The fact that I coughed a lot during those those days probably didn't help either. But I felt like yesterday I cleared up all the bad stuff inside me, and today I felt really good."
Letang has a congenital heart defect, a small hole in the wall of his heart called a patent foramen ovale. It's possible that the defect contributed to the stroke he suffered in 2014. After he tested positive for COVID-19, he said he was initially concerned because of his previous health challenges.
"I'm informed of everything that can go wrong," he said. "It was a concern, I was a little bit nervous. But when I saw the end of all the symptoms, and all the tests I had to go through at the hospital and everything was good, I was pretty relieved. But the first four days when you're feeling not that good, and you're laying in bed just thinking about the worst, sometimes it kind of creeps into your mind. But it went away quick."
Even just in this practice setting, Kasperi Kapanen said that it's "great to have (Letang) back."
"He's a big part of our team," Kapanen said. "He brings a lot of energy and he's on that powerplay. You guys have seen him long enough, he's a tremendous player. So we're we're happy to have him back."
MORE FROM PRACTICE
• Dumoulin and Sidney Crosby are confirmed positive for COVID-19. More on that here. Dumoulin is asymptomatic, but Crosby is showing symptoms. Pettersson and Ruhwedel remain in protocol with mild symptoms. Players who show symptoms must remain in protocol for a minimum of 10 days from the onset of symptoms. Players who remain asymptomatic throughout the process can return by producing two negative tests 24 hours apart.
• Bryan Rust joined the team for a regular practice for the first time since his injury in Florida in the Penguins' second game of the season, though he did take part in the optional skate with a handful of players on Saturday. He wore a non-contact jersey in practice, rotated in during the line rushes, and worked with the second power play unit.
• The Penguins used these lines and pairings in practice:
Jake Guentzel – Jeff Carter – Danton Heinen
Jason Zucker – Evan Rodrigues – Kasperi Kapanen
Zach Aston-Reese – Teddy Blueger – Brock McGinn
Drew O'Connor – Brian Boyle – Sam Lafferty
(Bryan Rust, Dominik Simon rotating in)
Mike Matheson - Kris Letang
P.O Joseph – John Marino
Juuso Riikola – Mark Friedman
• The top power play unit was Letang, Jake Guentzel, Jeff Carter, Kapanen, Evan Rodrigues.
• The second power play unit was Juuso Riikola, Jason Zucker, Danton Heinen, Drew O'Connor, Rust
• Kapanen, who has four assists and no goals through eight games, said that his season so far has had "ups and downs."
"I think there's been some good games and then been some not so good games," he said. "I really don't know what else to tell you right now. It's just not bouncing for me, and I think also my work ethic and other stuff away from the puck needs to get better for me to get more chances, and hopefully eventually it'll bounce in."
• Zucker and Rust are having a competition to see who can sell the most Movember shirts to benefit men's health and cancer initiatives, and both shaved their beards into mustaches for the campaign. Kapanen hasn't decided which side he supports yet.
"They're both trying to woo me and bribe me right now," he said. "So I'm waiting to see what offer is going to be better, but if I had to tell you guys right now I'd probably go team Zuck because he's my linemate. I need all the help I can get right now."
