CRANBERRY, Pa. -- It's been a truly challenging couple of months for Kris Letang.
At the end of November, Letang wasn't feeling quite right and alerted the Penguins' medical staff. It was diagnosed that he suffered a stroke, his second in eight years. While it was frightening, this stroke was much less severe than the first. He was back on the ice for practice with the team only 10 days later, then made his return to the lineup two days after that.
Upon returning, Letang played in eight games before sustaining a lower-body injury Dec. 28 that seemed to occur when he blocked a shot with his leg or foot against the Red Wings. He went down in discomfort for a moment, then labored back to the bench as soon as the team cleared the defensive zone. The workhorse that he is, he went on to take a season-high 34 shifts during the game just to be diagnosed with the injury the following day.
While Letang and his family were with the team in Boston for the Winter Classic, his father, Claude Fouquet, passed away at age 77. After the Penguins' family skate concluded at Fenway Park on Jan. 1, Letang and his family returned home to Montreal while the Penguins played in the Classic before venturing out West for games in Las Vegas and Tempe, Ariz.
At the conclusion of the Penguins' nine-day road trip, the team made the decision to fly from Tempe to Montreal, landing at 4 a.m., to be there for Fouquet's funeral in support of Letang.
On this Saturday afternoon at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex, Letang spoke with the media following practice for the first time in several weeks. He had been out on the ice well before practice began and was the final player to exit afterward.
"It feels great," a mellow Letang said of being back with the team. "It was an emotional time. I'm grateful for everything the team has done for me in the last few weeks. It's good to be back with these guys."
When asked if he's been able to process everything that's happened over the past six weeks, Letang chuckled before thinking for a moment.
"I guess in life, sometimes it goes like that," he said. "You don't really control everything. You have to live through it. Sometimes you're going to go through times like this. You have to rely on your family and your close ones to be there for you and support you. I'm grateful for everything my teammates and the organization did for me."
Letang was placed on long-term injured reserve prior to the Penguins' victory over the Ducks Friday night to clear cap space for Jeff Petry's return, but he can be activated at any time. Letang did take part in line rushes during practice, but it was on a fourth defense pairing with Ty Smith, suggesting he isn't quite ready. Mike Sullivan later confirmed that Letang will not travel with the team to Newark, N.J., for Sunday's game against the Devils.
Although he wore a regular black jersey during practice, Letang clarified that he did not take contact and only wore that color to avoid having three different colors out there when he rotated in with the second power-play unit.
"I've been feeling better and better every day," Letang said. "We're going day-by-day, how I feel and how confident I feel out there."
MORE FROM PRACTICE
• Letang will be staying home with Kasperi Kapanen, Jan Rutta and Josh Archibald. None will travel to Newark.
• Kapanen, dealing with an undisclosed injury, will not require surgery. That said, he isn't skating right now and a return seems at least a couple weeks away. Tough blow for him. He's been wildly inconsistent, but he's producing five-on-five points at the fifth-highest rate on the team.
• Rutta (upper-body, injured reserve) did not practice with the team Saturday, though he is skating.
• Archibald (lower-body, injured reserve) practiced with the team but did not partake in line rushes. He did get some work in with the penalty-kill.
• Ryan Poehling has been dealing with a nagging upper-body injury and still finds himself on injured reserve, but he practiced with the team and will make the trip to Newark. He's played just one game in the last month.
• There weren't any changes to the workflow:
Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust
Jason Zucker - Evgeni Malkin - Rickard Rakell
Brock McGinn - Teddy Blueger - Jeff Carter
Drew O'Connor - Jonathan Gruden - Danton Heinen
Marcus Pettersson - Jeff Petry
Brian Dumoulin - Mark Friedman
P.O. Joseph - Chad Ruhwedel
Ty Smith - Kris Letang
• And the power-play personnel ...
PP1: Crosby, Guentzel, Rakell, Malkin, Petry
PP2: Carter, Zucker, Rust, Heinen, Letang/Smith/Joseph
• Not that they've been mopey or gotten down on themselves over this recent stretch, but there was a different energy and optimism among the group Saturday. With Petry and Tristan Jarry back in the fold, and Letang not far behind them, it's easy to see why.
• Puck drops at 2:08 p.m. in Newark Sunday afternoon. Taylor Haase will be there for your coverage.
