Catching up with Kris Letang
Kris Letang didn’t get back to Pittsburgh from Russia until around 4 a.m. this morning.
The Penguins defenseman didn’t get much sleep after landing and had to be up early to take care of his infant son, Alexander. But his travels didn’t stop Letang from joining his Penguins teammates for their informal practice at Southpointe on Friday morning, where he looked great in drills during the roughly hour-long skate.
“We all missed it,” Letang said of NHL hockey. “I’m happy to be back in Pittsburgh and have the chance to play another season.”
Letang had a deal in place with SKA Saint Petersburg of the Kontinental Hockey League some time ago because of the work stoppage, and had spent a few days in Russia with his family to get acclimated with the team in case he decided to play there.
“The deal was done a long time ago,” he said. “It was just a question of timing. Closer to the end, even if the lockout was closer to an end, they asked me to come anyway to check out the facility and the way they were managing the team. It was a good experience.”
Letang spent the majority of these last nine months training in his native Montreal, except for about a week in October where he skated with his Penguins teammates at Southpointe before returning home to Quebec.