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Kris Letang Faces Harsh Criticism from Penguins Coach Mike Sullivan

Originally posted on Hockey Unplugged
By Graham Montgomery | Last updated Mar 16, 2025 11:07 AM ET

Veteran Penguins defenseman Kris Letang is under the microscope today after some recent comments made by head coach Mike Sullivan.

Kris Letang has spent his entire career with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The 37-year-old, soon to be 38, has 174 career goals and 768 points in 1148 regular season appearances with the club.

He's represented the team twice at the NHL All-Star game, has a Masterson trophy, and won two Stanley Cups with the Penguins in 2015 and 2016.

Many thought that his time with the team could be coming to an end, as he was involved in rumors leading up to last week's trade deadline.

However, the trade deadline has once again come and gone, and the grizzled veteran remains in Pittsburgh.

At this point in his career though, he is no longer the elite defenseman he once was and that is rather obvious on the ice.

Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan has addressed this, saying in recent comments what makes Letang so effective when he is playing well.

'I think it's been a bit of a mixed bag. I think he's had moments when he's played really well. For example, the Colorado game (March 4)," coach Mike Sullivan. "I think that might have been (Letang's) best game all year. When Tanger plays a calculated game, he defends hard, he takes what the game gives him, I think he's a very effective defenseman for us and he helps us in so many ways.'

Unfortunately, Letang simply has not been playing up to that standard for most of the season, Which Sullivan also addressed.

He talked about how the veteran often struggles, trying to do too much and forcing plays that rarely work.

"You know, when he tries to do too much, I think that's when he gets in trouble or gets us in trouble a little bit. So just finding that balance between trying to be proactive and jump into the offense, and we certainly don't want to take that aspect of his game away from him, because we think that's one of the things that separates him from others. But when he's calculated and when he doesn't force plays, and he takes what the game gives him, I think that's when he's been at his best if he's trying to do too much, sometimes he gets himself and us in trouble. And that's really the conversation the coaching staff has with Kris almost daily."

Letang has 8 goals and 26 points in 61 games this season. He has three seasons left on his contract after this one, each coming with a cap hit of 6.1 million dollars.

Will he finish out that contract? Will he still be with the Penguins if that is the case? Could he be traded in the coming years? Would anyone even want him at this point?

These are all questions that should be answered in the coming months and years.

This article first appeared on Hockey Unplugged and was syndicated with permission.

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