Letang re-joins team for practice 10 days after stroke, feels 'pretty good'

CRANBERRY, Pa. -- On Monday, Nov. 28, Kris Letang suffered a stroke that has sidelined him for each of the Penguins' last four games.

Only 10 days after the stroke, Letang hopped onto the ice on Thursday here at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry and joined his teammates in a regular yellow jersey for practice, meaning he was a full participant.

During line rushes, Letang rotated in on the Penguins' third defense pairing with P.O Joseph and Chad Ruhwedel. Later on during special teams work, Letang rotated in with Joseph on the second power-play unit.

According to Ron Hextall, the stroke Letang suffered is "much less severe" than the stroke he suffered in 2014 that kept him out for two months.

Letang went for a "twirl" on the ice in non-hockey fashion just days after the most recent stroke, then quickly upgraded to hockey-related activity when he began doing skills work with Ty Hennes earlier this week.

The Penguins' head physician, Dr. Dharmesh Vyas, spoke with the media following practice and shed some light on the difference between this stroke and Letang's first stroke.

"Last time, we actually had to figure out why he had the stroke," Vyas said. "We already know that now, so the timeline, in terms of diagnostics, was much shorter. We’re just confirming what we knew already. Secondly, his stroke this time is much smaller than it was last time. The symptoms have resolved a lot quicker than they did the last time, as well."

When Letang had his first stroke, doctors discovered a hole in the wall of his heart as the root cause. Vyas noted that playing hockey hasn't been a factor in either stroke that he's suffered.

"Certainly it’s not the sport that created this problem for him," Vyas said. "We know that several people have holes in their hearts that have strokes that don’t play a sport, and so, he had a risk just of having this hole in his heart that could’ve created the stroke twice now in his body. We don’t think that playing the sport itself is risky for him."

As for this seeming like an extremely quick return-to-play process?

"He’s always surprised us with how well he heals," Vyas said. "We don’t think that this is accelerated in any way, we’re taking all the right precautions to make sure that he’s safe to go out and play, and when that time comes, we’ll let him go back to playing his sport."

Letang also spoke with the media following practice, this being the first time since his most recent stroke. He shared that he has dealt with migraines a lot in the past. Typically, they subside in a couple hours after throwing up or going to sleep, but that wasn't the case this last time around.

"In the past, I’ve had migraines a lot," Letang said. "Usually, the timeframe is it lasts two hours. It started with a half-hour that I’m struggling with my vision, I get headaches and I get nauseous. Either I throw up or I go to sleep, and they kind of wear off and I’m good to go. Usually, I get maybe one or maybe two every two months, but they were happening every three hours, they kept coming, coming, coming, and that’s when I kind of made notice of that cycle. I called the doc, I called (Chris Stewart), I said, ‘I think there’s something wrong,’ and they booked me an MRI right away, and that’s where we found it."

Letang did not appear to limit himself physically whatsoever during practice. He's already focused on getting his conditioning back to the necessary level for him to be the Penguins' workhorse on the blue line.

"I feel pretty good," Letang said. "Obviously, when you don’t skate with the team or you don’t skate for an hour or high intensity, you kind of lose that little bit of conditioning, so it’s just to build it back up. I was able to skate a little bit on my own, and today felt pretty good."

Although, as Letang admitted, it was just as beneficial for his mindset to be back out on the ice with his teammates as it was for his conditioning level. He's thankful that the entire team continued to treat him just as they always do, rather than trying to be overly cautious about his situation.

"We have a great group of guys," Letang said. "They’ve helped me, they brought me in and they talked to me. They didn’t put me to the side or kind of — I don’t know how you say that, but they were not really careful, they just brought me in and treated me like they usually do, so it made me feel at home and felt comfortable. To be around them, watch the games, be able to practice today, it’s great for the mind."

The situation, obviously, hasn't been easy on Letang or his family.

"My kids, they don’t care if I’m a hockey player or not, they care about having a dad," Letang said. "Same thing with my wife. She can care less about hockey and everything. She knows that there’s so much more, and after hockey there’s a long time. You want to be able to enjoy those moments with your family, with your kids. It was hard, but like I said, we’ve been through this, and me and Dharmesh have a clear understanding that we’re gonna take all the time we need, and we’ll make all the research possible to make sure it’s safe for me to play and that there’s no danger for me to keep going."

And while Letang does prioritize his health above all else so he can be around for his family, he said it's going to take a heck of a lot to pull him away from the game that he loves.

"People know me well by now and they know that hockey’s a passion for me," he said. "It’s something that is gonna take a lot to drag me out of it. But at the same time, I know the danger, I know everything, and I made sure that I know all the risk I’m taking. If there’s none, I will resume playing. That’s the case right now."

When Mike Sullivan spoke with the media after Letang and Vyas, he highlighted just how significant it was for everybody within the organization to see him back out there and in good spirits so soon.

"It’s great. I think everybody is excited when he gets to join the team," Sullivan said. "It’s just an indication of the progress that he’s made. He’s obviously a huge part of this team, he’s close friends with all of his teammates, we all care about him, so to see him on the ice, I think for all of us, it’s just a little bit of a sense of relief. It’s just a great visual that he’s making progress."

MORE FROM PRACTICE

• "I didn't, to be honest with you," Jeff Carter told me after practice when I asked if he expected Letang to return so soon. "I found out this morning he was skating with us, so it's definitely a big boost for our team."

• Carter was also asked if the team did anything special to celebrate Kasperi Kapanen's hat trick against the Blues last week.

"No, we didn't," Carter said, peering two stalls down to his left at Kapanen.

"Not yet," Kapanen clarified before Carter burst into an ear-to-ear smile.

• The Penguins wore their Winter Classic helmets and pants for the first time during practice. The helmet is yellow with a script "Penguins" on the sides, and the pants are all black with the same script "Penguins" on the front-right.

• Ryan Poehling missed the Penguins' game against the Blue Jackets on Tuesday with an upper-body injury. He was out on the ice for practice in a white non-contact jersey. Sullivan said he remains day-to-day.

• Josh Archibald was the only absence at practice. It was a maintenance day for him.

• Here are the lines and D-pairings that were utilized during practice:

Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Rickard Rakell
Jason Zucker - Evgeni Malkin - Bryan Rust
Brock McGinn - Jeff Carter - Kasperi Kapanen
Ryan Poehling - Teddy Blueger - Danton Heinen

Marcus Pettersson - Jeff Petry
Brian Dumoulin - Jan Rutta
P.O Joseph - Chad Ruhwedel/Kris Letang

• And the power play units ...

PP1: Crosby, Guentzel, Rakell, Malkin, Petry

PP2: Carter, Rust, Zucker, Kapanen, Joseph/Letang

• The Penguins have a home-and-home with the Sabres on Friday and Saturday. On Wednesday night, Sabres forward Tage Thompson lit up the Blue Jackets for five goals. Sullivan was asked if the Penguins must make any adjustments for his impact.

"Well, we're going to try and stop him from scoring five goals."

• Friday's game against the Sabres is in Buffalo, 7:08 p.m. The team flew there after practice, and Taylor Haase is on her way there now for your coverage.