Monday, November 09, 2009

Letang Out Two Weeks

The rumours were circulating all day on Monday, as to whether or not Kristopher Letang had suffered an injury on the weekend or not and it wasn't until later on in the evening before the Penguins announced that Letang is injured and will miss two weeks with a shoulder contusion. Letang left the game against the Sharks on Saturday during the first period and didn't return to the game and went back to Pittsburgh to get checked out by team doctors.

Letang joins Evgeni Malkin, Sergei Gonchar, Max Talbot and Tyler Kennedy on the shelf for the Penguins, so depth will be key over the next week or two.

Letang really didn't step up as the full replacement that many thought he would be when Gonchar went down with his injury, as his numbers are not terribly outstanding this year. In 17 games, Letang only has one goal and six assists, which isn't what the Penguins want from their temporary number one defenseman. In his box on the Sheet, Letang does rank second in points, so no one could really be disappointed, because no one could do much better.

ImplicationsIn the Draft, Letang was a 7th round pick for Trevor, who took him 111th overall. Trevor could have used a few more points from Letang, as he sits in 13th position on Monday night, also sitting in the middle of the pack with 28 points from the blueline. Those numbers do fall just below average among all 17 teams in the Draft.

On the Sheet, Letang was taken six times, tied for the second most taken in Box 27. It will be interesting to see how many people move away from Letang and whether or not the two weeks will be enough to sway anyone.

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