Kris Letang delivers season tickets !

Kris Letang

* After we finished with Malkin, we went to pick up Kris Letang. His first visit was to Alan Stadler and his 14-year-old niece Anna and 16-year-old nephew Chris, who go to games with their uncle as much as possible now that they’re older. Alan has been a season ticket holder since 1972, so it was a cool sight to see Letang autograph his seat from Mellon Arena. “We won the Cup there in that building,” Letang said as he signed.

* Letang’s last visit was to Kathleen Russell and her family: husband Cannon, 13-year-old twins Cooper and Brynn and 5-year-old son Kieran. They also had a gorgeous Husky-type dog and two cats waiting to greet Letang at the door. They didn’t know who it was going to be ahead of time, but had an idea because Brynn had been following the Penguins Instagram feed at school and narrowing down the options. Not going to lie, that’s some very clever detective work there.

* After they all took photos and Letang signed jerseys and other memorabilia, Kathleen presented him with a box of black and yellow macarons they got special from the French bakery by their house they’ve been going to for years. Letang thanked them and but said he would have to try not to eat too many now that the season is starting. He’s going to share them with his fiancée and nine-month-old son.

* Kathleen said she’s watched the season ticket delivery videos before, saying, “I thought it was such a nice thing that they do and I just get a kick out of it, especially seeing the Pittsburgh people and what they’re going to roll out and do and stuff. I watch them every year and think, ‘they’d never come to our house.’ So it’s amazing to get the call the other day. This is really, really awesome that they do this.”

* Letang signed an eight-year, $58-million contract extension in July. One of the reasons is his love for the city and the fans, so to have the chance to give back by doing this means a lot to him. “It’s fun to meet all those fans, see where they live. They’ve been true fans for so many years, so it’s fun to do that for them and have the chance to meet them in person. You can ask any player, what they love about Pittsburgh is the fans, people in the city. So just to come to their house and just spend a little bit of our time to get back to them, I had a lot of fun doing that today.”