Letang Done For the Year

Another rough year has already come to an end for Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Kristopher Letang, who has been out since the end of March with a concussion, which had sent him to hospital after his awkward collision into the boards in the game against the Arizona Coyotes.

The report came out on Friday night that Penguins management confirmed Letang's future absence, which included Saturday night's finale against the Buffalo Sabres and the entire playoff run, assuming that they are going to clinch a spot with a win against those same Sabres.  Letang would be 100% unavailable for the playoff run, no matter how far they go.

The 27-year old rearguard has had a history of injuries, which has been well-documented here on this blog and in 2013, he was added to the Injury Prone List, which is published annually on this blog, warning against taking him in your hockey pool draft.

Letang was only good for 69 games in the 2015 season, where he still managed to pick up 11 goals and 54 points, which going into action on Saturday, still has him ranked 96th overall in pool scoring, 7th among all defensemen.  At that kind of production rate, it is a real shame that he couldn't finish the season healthy or play the entire year, as that scoring rate likely would have had him 2nd among all blueliners in scoring.

The results are all but official, but Letang has contributed well to Kristy & Don's win in the hockey pool this season, as he still managed to put up some real numbers, weighing heavily to the reward side, playing against all that risk.  The pool's first duo go into the final day's worth of action with an 86-point lead and their 5th round pick came away with fair value at the end of the year.  A decent pick, indeed.

An updated list of injuries can be found here.