Kris Letang shares a special moment giving back to the Montreal community for Christmas on team road trip

NHL hockey players are known for being generous off the ice, especially when it comes to paying it forward with young fans.

Before the Pittsburgh Penguins played the Montreal Canadiens, veteran defenseman Kris Letang, a Quebec native, played the role of Santa Claus for kids at the CHU Sainte-Justine Foundation.

Even though he wasn't wearing a Santa costume, Letang embodied the Christmas spirit by delivering $10K worth of donations from a Amazon.ca wish list created by the charity.

It's not the first time that Letang has worked with the charity, as he brought the Stanley Cup to display with kids after winning it for the second time in a row in 2017, the third time in his career.

Letang has been part of the core of the Penguins for many years now alongside Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, and has helped bring three Stanley Cups to Pittsburgh.

But Letang has experienced numerous health problems in recent years, including overcoming not one but two separate strokes as well as having recently undergone heart surgery.

He also still has two years beyond this one on his contract with a considerable AAV (average annual value) of $6,100,000. The Penguins had been working on trying to trade veterans like Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell over the summer, but had no takers.

The Penguins have now lost seven games in a row, and if things go off the rails to the point where they are outside the playoffs for a fourth straight year, Letang could potentially find himself included in trade rumours.

So far this year, Letang has 16 points (2G, 14A) in 33 games. He's played in 1,194 NHL games, all in a Penguins sweater, and has 788 points (177G, 611A).