Penguins Facing Major Decision on Kris Letang's Role Heading Into 2025-26 Season

Pittsburgh Penguins' defenseman Kris Letang has enjoyed a Hall of Fame-worthy career up to this point, and it's no secret that his time in the NHL has been met with quite a bit of challenges.

Most recently, Kris Letang had surgery to repair a patent foramen ovale (PFO), which is a small hole in the heart, which was done, in part, to reduce the risk of stroke, something that he has already had in his NHL career.

He's also dealt with several injuries that have held him back, leading him to many missed games.

Now, he may be facing a new kind of challenge next season. Letang, 38, has put up 175 goals and 772 points in 1,161 NHL games so far, but he has seen his production, ice time, and level of play slowly dip over the last few seasons.

After registering 10 goals and 51 points in 82 games during the 2023-24 season, he only managed to produce nine goals and 30 points in 74 games last season. His ice time has also dropped considerably.

Because of his age, health, and slow decline in play, Letang has reached a point where he probably shouldn't be logging the heavy top-pairing minutes that Penguins fans and the team grew accustomed to seeing throughout the years.

But with Erik Karlsson's name in trade rumors, and if he were to be traded, it would immediately thrust Letang back into a role that he isn't necessarily suited for anymore.

The Penguins, realistically, should continue to reduce his workload and slowly ease him into a lesser role in the lineup, and as long as Erik Karlsson is still in the picture, this shouldn't be an issue.

But if Karlsson is gone, they still have to figure out a way to make sure Letang isn't logging too many high minutes per game. Perhaps a more balanced approach to Letang's ice time would work better for the Penguins next season.

But, regardless, the challenge for Letang and the Penguins will be to balance the team's reliance on the future Hall-of-Fame defenseman and the need to monitor his minutes.

It will be interesting to see how that unfolds next season, whether Karlsson is still in the picture or not.