Should Kris Letang be inserted as a top-six forward on the Pittsburgh Penguins? Letang leads all NHL defenseman in scoring with 21 points. That mark is tied with the Sedin twins in Vancouver for tenth highest total in the league. Letang’s point total leaves him one point shy of James Neal, two shy of Evgeni Malkin, and it’s easy to see why when you watch Tanger on the offensive. He is a premier play-maker.
Letang showed off his play-making ability when he dished a pass to Sidney Crosby for what should have been the game-winning goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning Monday night. Letang showed great patience by not shooting from a terrible angle when the puck was passed to him coming down the right wing. He held the biscuit circling behind the net and found Crosby for a one-timer that put the Pens up 3-2 late in the third period. These were natural offensive instincts displayed by Letang.
Letang is averaging a point-per-game as a defenseman. For a defenseman, a point-per-game average is nearly unheard of these days. If this were the 1980’s, Letang would fit right in as a defenseman with the likes of a Paul Coffey. There aren’t many forwards who are putting up the pace set by Letang this season. That’s why Letang should be moved up to left-wing on Malkin and Neal’s line, right? If this game was all about scoring goals, we would be just dandy now wouldn’t we? Throw Tanger up front to add to the offensive depth of the Penguins. The Pens are indeed looking for a top-six forward on the Malkin/Neal line. This just in, Letang needs to play defense more than the Pens need a top-six forward.
I have stressed before, and will stress again, that the NHL is very lenient in their statistic keeping when the stat refers to giving a puck away to an opponent. Letang had 21 giveaways entering Monday night’s game against the Lightning. He left the game with 23 giveaways, fourth most in the league. I can guarantee that Letang handed a puck over to an opponent more than 23 times this season.
Around the 12 minute mark of the first period, Letang and Brooks Orpik each gave the puck away twice to the Lightning in about a 30 second span. Later in the contest, Letang put the puck on a platter for Steven Stamkos who nearly scored if not for a brilliant save by Marc-Andre Fleury. There was at least one other giveaway by Letang that I counted preceding a commercial break at 12:59 of the second period. Spectators at home missed this giveaway due to a poor camera angle.
Letang is usually the Pens’ last line of defense when carrying the puck up the ice. With this being the case, Letang must make intelligent decisions with the puck at all times. Puck intelligence is something that Letang is severely lacking. He attempts to thread the needle and force way too many passes when the completion percentage of those passes is very low. If a secure pass is not available, Letang needs to be more willing to throw the puck high off the glass or make a soft dump to space to avoid turnovers.
Along with poor decisions with the puck, Letang needs to make smarter decisions without the puck. Chris Kunitz gave the puck away in the neutral zone to Lightning defenseman Keith Aulie with a little over nine minutes remaining in the second period. Crosby started chasing Aulie (the puck carrier) from behind while Letang was defending Aulie as Aulie was about to enter the Pens’ zone. When Aulie made a cross-ice pass to Martin St. Louis, Letang chased the puck over to St. Louis who Orpik was already defending. This decision by Letang hung Crosby (below top-left of screen) out to dry and nearly resulted in the Penguins surrendering a goal. If Letang would have stayed in position (on his side), St. Louis would have been unable to pass the puck back to Aulie which would’ve resulted in a poor angle shot from St. Louis. If St. Louis decided to hold onto the puck and not shoot, this would’ve at least given the Pens’ forwards more time to get back in position to pick up a Lightning player.
Letang is such a fantastic skater and many times can make up for poor decisions with his skating ability when he is out of position. Surely he relied upon this strength during his journey to the NHL. A defender can only be so quick in this game. The puck moves faster than any player skates. Letang needs to be more conservative in his risky decision making when defending. If he were more intelligent in his positioning and took fewer chances, Letang would be on the ice for fewer goals against.
Letang is supposed to play defense, hence the name of his position. I’m not saying he isn’t trying, but Letang is not playing the defense part nearly as well as the offensive role. You can argue his plus/minus stats as much as you want but those numbers do not truly justify how Letang has been playing outside of the Pens’ offensive zone. Letang, and whoever his partner may be on a given night, are paired against an opponent’s top-line. Shutting down an opponent’s top scoring unit should be Letang’s number one priority. If this task isn’t Letang’s biggest concern, then he should be relieved of this duty until he makes defense his number one prerogative.
Justin Glock has covered the Pittsburgh Penguins for The Hockey Writers since 2011. As a lead writer, his Penguins knowledge traces back over two decades. For any requests, please feel free to contact Justin via email: JGlock10@gmail.com.
Letang was a forward up until he was about 16 years old, and then his coach in juniors insisted he tried out defense and he loved it and it stuck. So it makes sense he’s so keen on offensive abilities and plays so much like a forward. He’s still really young, though. He’s had shining moments on defense and he’s had rough ones. That’s what you seem to get with most offensive defenseman, it’s not just him.
I didn’t bother to read this garbage past the first couple paragraphs. Just more Letang bashing, cause it’s the cool thing to do right now. I could find highlights of every single one of the Pens, from Crosby to Vitale to Orpik making mistakes or being out of position. Mistakes happen during games to EVERY PLAYER. I suppose since Glass doesn’t have any points, he must like to play defense better so they should move him back to the blueline right? Just a ridiculous article by another Internet Coach. It sure is easy to judge sitting in front of a computer rather than seeing every game from behind the bench, watching game film and seeing every practice and actually BEING an NHL coach. I’m sure you’ll have a witty and intelligent response that will put me in my place, but I’ll never read it. Will avoid this site from now on.
I guess the Pens are always perfect in your book? Even the real head coach would tell you that his team make mistakes. If you wouldn’t assume things and would actually read the entire article maybe you’d know. In the second half of my article, I break down two of his weaknesses on D while also complimenting more of his ability. I do actually break down game tape since you mention it. I’m not sure there’s a hockey writer on this planet who’s coached an NHL game. Before judging a title and writing a really uninformed comment pertaining to my article you should read the entire thing. I will tell you straight up that the Pens will never move Letang to D nor should they. He’s the most talented D man in the league. It’s a hypothetical situation. I can tell you that he needs to play better at the D end of the ice.
This is why journalism is a joke in today’s age of digital media. Even if you did move him to a wing position who is going to take his place on the blue line? Idiotic all around.
Yeah stupid idea. You have a guy who can score 70-80 points on the blue line why move him to the second line. He isn’t going to score that much more and you weaken a position you are looking to shore up.
dumb, he will win the norris someday
First of folks, the Pens have more defensive depth than anyone in the league. This post is just a thought. My point is that he needs to pick up his game on the D end. He needs to make more intelligent decisions b/c it would seem he only cares about offense. The Pens have plenty of scoring on offense, and they wouldn’t even need Letang’s scoring if they played better defense. I don’t, and I hope he doesn’t care about a Norris Trophy, the Pens need to win a Cup before time runs out. If Letang doesn’t play better defensively, they will not. —-“Letang needs to play defense more than the Pens need a top-six forward.” Last sent. in the 3rd paragraph Brian.
Justin, the only problem with the Pens Defensive Depth is the Pens have nobody who could replace Letang immediately. Moving him to wing, do you put the offensive burden of the defense on Despres already?
I agree. I just wrote this article b/c he seems like all he wants to do is score. I want him to play better at defense as a defenseman. He’s the best defenseman in the league when he wants to be. In the bigger picture, the Pens have issues on D. We’ve seen it for two seasons now. I hope its fixed come playoffs b/c they’ll make it for sure. Its what they do once they get there.
I think the system that bylsma has them playing is prone to giveaways by the d. if you watch all the dmen, they all do it on all of the same kinds of plays. other teams have figured out the system and know when and how the puck will be moving up ice and are able to force a giveaway. this becomes painfully obvious in the playoffs by the 2nd or 3rd game. bylsma needs to tweak the system a little or have a few slightly different versions to change things up and keep the opponents guessing.
I agree they play an offensive system but the D need to make the right decision with the puck. They try to force too many passes. If no one is open they need to be more conservative. I do agree they need to make more adjustments when things aren’t working for them. That’s for taking the time to read
Thanks I mean.
too many passes…another one of my complaints…the whole team is guilty, especially on the power play. i think they are being coached to be that way…
While I agree that Letang needs to cut down on the boneheaded giveaways. I’ll cut him slack for the offensive numbers he puts up and the amount of times he’s able to negate 2 on 1’s and breakaways with his superb skating. Sometimes with offensive defenseman, you got to take the good with the bad. Though I’m not sold that he should be used on a shutdown pair. His partner last night Orpik(who is supposed to be a defensive d-man)was even more horrid. I guess if we don’t want him, there’s 29 other teams who will gladly take him off our hands.
Gotta keep him on D. My all time Fav Paul Coffey had his defensive short comings as well but more then made up for em offensively and le tang is getting better and better.
Thanks for reading guys. I agree. Letang is the most talented defenseman in the league, but he needs to work on his defense. I wouldn’t get rid of him by any means. He’s a pure talent, but maybe Bylsma should keep him away from top-scoring units.
The New Jersey Devils attempted this experiment many times with one of the finest defensemen of the past few decades, Scott Niedermeyer. His value as a talented forward unaccustomed to the nuances of the position never came close to matching his otherwordly prowess on the blueline. It might be an interesting idea to attempt on the power play, but not during regular shifts.
Thanks for the read Steve. I agree with you, but he def needs to focus on his defensive play if the Pens want to compete in the 2nd season. That’s all anyone cares about here. If he doesn’t change up his style some, the Pens may have some issues.