Penguins Notebook: Letang's Surgery, Rebuild On-The-Fly Discussion, And More From Final Practice Of 2024-25

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On Wednesday, the Pittsburgh Penguins took the ice for what will be their final full practice for the 2024-25 season.

And there were a few notable absences.

Forward Kevin Hayes - who also missed Tuesday's practice - is day-to-day with a lower-body injury and did not skate. And defenseman Kris Letang - fresh off successful surgery to repair a hole in his heart - also did not participate.

Head coach Mike Sullivan said that Letang's surgery was not reactionary and that it has been in the works for a while. He is expected to be in recovery for 4-6 weeks.

"This wasn't a reaction to anything from an injury most recently," Sullivan said. "This is something that Kris and the medical team have discussed for a long time. Given the circumstance with Kris right now, he's banged up, dealing with a lot of bumps and bruises... we collectively thought as a group that it made the most sense to have the procedure done at this particular time.

"So, it wasn't anything that caused it. It was just something that's been an ongoing discussion for a long period of time now, and we just felt that this was the opportune time to do it."

Teammates also reacted to the news of Letang's surgery and commented on the resiliency that the veteran defenseman - who turns 38 next week - has shown throughout his career.

"His ability to keep himself in peak physical condition separates him from a lot of people and allows him to be as good as he is," longtime teammate Bryan Rust said. "And as long as he's been that good and played so many minutes, I think his conditioning level and his commitment to health and nutrition and making sure his body is as good as it can be... it shows."

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Penguins Defenseman Kris Letang Has Surgery To Repair Hole In HeartIt appears the Pittsburgh Penguins will be down one more man for their final game of the season on Thursday against the Washington Capitals.
Defenseman Erik Karlsson mentioned that he had talked to Letang and that his fellow blueliner was at the rink on Wednesday - which came as no surprise.

"He was in here today and seemed in a good spirit," Karlsson said. "I'm happy everything went well, and like they said, hopefully it's 4-6 [weeks], and he can keep doing his thing.

"He's a maniac. I was kind of expecting to see him yesterday, to be honest."

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- Defenseman P.O Joseph - out since took line rushes and skated in a full-contact capacity for the second consecutive day.

And also - for the second consecutive day - he took line rushes as a forward on a fourth line with Vasily Ponomarev and Valtteri Puustinen.

If Hayes is out for tomorrow's game, the Penguins - without an emergency recall - will not have enough forwards to ice 12. If Joseph is available, don't be surprised to see him slotted into the lineup as a forward for the first time in his NHL career.

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- When asked about his no-movement clause expiring this summer, Rust remained staunch on his desire to remain in Pittsburgh for, at least, years 4-6 of his current contract:

"Yeah. I will say it to you guys, too. I don't want to leave here. This is home for me, this is where I intend to be, where I want to be, and, obviously... we'll talk more about that Friday [on locker cleanout day]."

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Sidney Crosby Named 'Most Complete Player' For Sixth Consecutive Season In NHLPA Player PollFor the sixth consecutive season, Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby has earned a prestigious honor from his NHL peers.
- I also asked Karlsson about Crosby being named in the NHLPA's Annual Players Poll as the league's most complete player for the sixth consecutive season.

"Did you say it was six years in a row?" Karlsson said. "I would have guessed it would have been, you know, 18 or 19. I think I voted for him every single year I've been in this league.

"For me, it was even easier to vote this year now that he's my teammate. When you know him and the effort he puts into this game and how much he dedicates himself to the sport of hockey and this organization and this team, and himself... nothing surprising for me."

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- In his post-practice press conference, Sullivan was asked about whether or not he and POHO/GM Kyle Dubas have had discussions about trying to model the Washington Capitals' rebulid on-the-fly strategy.

His answer was pretty interesting:

“We’ve certainly had discussions about where we’re at and strategizing on where we want to go and how to get there. And there’s different ways to do that. There are some teams that want to strip the team right down to the studs. That’s one strategy. There’s others that have reshaped their teams on-the-fly. Washington is an example of that. There’s a number of those examples. I know Kyle’s done a deep dive on all of those different examples, and then looking at our team and trying to strategize as a group on what makes the most sense for this organization and where we’re at right now and how to return this group to a Stanley Cup contender and a competitive organization.
I guess that’s a long-winded answer, but the answer is, yes, we have had those discussions over the last year-plus on what it should look like and what, potentially, we’re able to do and how we’re going to go about doing it.”

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In case folks haven't noticed, the Penguins have not "stripped the team to the studs." Read into this quote what you will, but I think it's safe to ascertain that the Penguins are exploring how to get this thing accomplished as quickly as possible.

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Like Ovechkin's Capitals, Penguins Owe It To Crosby To Right The ShipOn Sunday, the hockey world got to witness Alexander Ovechkin - The Great “8” - surpass The Great “One” for the most goals in NHL history.

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