Pittsburgh Hockey Insider has no direct affiliation to the Pittsburgh Penguins, NHL or NHLPA

Penguins must adjust Kris Letang's usage or risk wasting a playoff-caliber season


PUBLICATION
Daniel Lucente
March 20, 2026  (9:07)
SHARE THIS STORY

Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Kris Letang (58) shoots the puck in the third period against the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena.
Photo credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

Dejan Kovacevic says Kris Letang is a Penguins problem, and the math is blunt: age 38, $6.1 million through 2027-28, full no-move now.

Letang has 3-24-27 in 62 games. His even-strength profile sits at a 45.7 GF% and 49.0 xGF%, which tells you the minutes are getting heavier than the results.
That is not a legacy debate. It is a roster-construction debate.
Pittsburgh is 34-18-16 and still chasing the Metropolitan lead, so Dubas cannot treat this like a summer-only problem. The next game usage matters as much as the offseason file.
The real issue is fit. Letang can still move pucks cleanly, but asking him to handle every hard defensive match-up drains the rest of the blue line.
You can almost hear the frustration in the delivery as the cap hit and role stop lining up with the nightly workload.

Kris Letang forces Pittsburgh Penguins to adjust

Fans are not crazy for feeling torn here, because the name still carries weight even when the deployment starts to slip.
The smarter play is not a forced trade. Letang's contract remains a full no-move this season, then shifts to a modified no-trade with a 10-team approved list in the final two years.
Dubas has to protect the player and the slot. That means fewer top-line defensive assignments and more controlled offensive-zone starts.
It also means leaning harder on Erik Karlsson for transition while keeping Letang in a second-pair rhythm that can still help the man advantage. Karlsson leads Pittsburgh defensemen in points.
That is the ripple effect. Fix the role now, and the trade conversation cools.
Miss it, and a playoff push turns into another summer of cap gymnastics around a franchise icon.
POLL
MARS 20|118 ANSWERS
Penguins must adjust Kris Letang's usage or risk wasting a playoff-caliber season

Should the Penguins cut Kris Letang's toughest even-strength minutes right now?

Yes8370.3 %
No3529.7 %
List of polls

HOCKEYUNPLUGGED
COPYRIGHT @2026 - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
TERMS OF SERVICE - PRIVACY POLICY - COOKIE POLICY
RSS FEED - SITEMAP - ROBOTS.TXT