Penguins Playoff Update: Is Kris Letang Really That Bad?

My obsession with the negative aspects of Kris Letang’s play began innocently enough. Sometime during the early part of the season, a frequent PenguinPoop commenter offered a scathing critique of ‘Tanger.’

To digress, I’d always been keenly aware of the quicksilver defenseman’s penchant for playing fast and loose, not to mention his frequent errors in judgment that led to occasional defensive lapses.

Still, I likened them to Evgeni Malkin’s habit of making blind drop passes at the blue line. With guys this gifted, a certain amount of high-risk, high-reward play comes with the package. Part of what makes ‘em great makes ‘em vulnerable, too.

In response to the comment, I began to watch No. 58 more closely, especially in the defensive zone. Frankly, I was aghast. His play, especially down low around the net, ranged from ineffective to downright deplorable at times. Often when the heat was on he seemed frozen beside the cage, stuck in a tripod stance and sheepishly looking on while our goalies flailed to keep the puck out.

In fairness to Letang, he hadn’t played since last February, when a herniated disc and subsequent surgery forced him to miss the entire 2016-17 stretch run and playoffs. Like a classic car that’s been dinged up a bit, some rust had accumulated. Given the nature and severity of the injury…not to mention his history of concussions and other serious health concerns…I’m sure he was under strict orders to tone down the physical part of his game.

After dipping to a horrendous minus-16 by early November, Kris slowly righted himself. During a particularly effective 12-game stretch in February and March, he piled up 13 points to go with a sparkling plus-10. He’d begun to resemble a defenseman worthy of his All-Star Game selection, if not Norris Trophy recognition. Then, inexplicably, he faltered down the homestretch.

Again, I focused on his work in the d-zone. Again, I was shocked by what I saw. Instances of out-and-out blown coverages leading directly to odd-man breaks and ugly goals, such as Washington’s two markers on Thursday night, combined with wildly undisciplined play.

Jeez, I thought. If we’re pinning our hopes on this guy leading us to a three-peat from the backend, we’re in deep trouble.

I’m all-too-aware that perception is far from an exact science and readily admit my eye-test opinion of Tanger may have become skewed, not to mention overly harsh. So I decided to take a more objective approach and look at some numbers.

The truth? While he’s certainly contributed to some glaring goals against, Letang is enjoying a decent postseason. With seven points, he’s second among rearguards in scoring, two points behind Capitals stud John Carlson.

He’s been on the ice for 16 of the Pens’ 31 goals (51.6 percent), fourth among all postseason skaters behind teammates Sidney Crosby, Jake Guentzel and the Caps’ Evgeni Kuznetsov. On the flip side, he’s been on the ice for 9 of the 17 goals we’ve allowed (52.9 percent), which ranks a distant 21st. Tanger’s averaged a team-high 24:47 of ice time, so he’s skating roughly 41 percent of a 60-minute game.

In percentage terms, it means scoring is elevated both for and against whenever he’s on the ice. About what you’d expect, given his offensive bent.

I also decided to look at turnovers, almost exclusively the domain (and bane) of high-profile defensemen. During the regular season, Kris committed 89 giveaways, 13th most in the NHL. That seems egregious until you consider Florida’s Keith Yandle led the circuit with 129 giveaways. Runner-up Brent Burns of San Jose had 124. By comparison, Letang’s a veritable bastion of puck responsibility.

In the postseason, Tanger has nine turnovers…second most but well behind league-leader Carlson (14).

Is Letang hurting the team as much as I think? No. Is there room for improvement? Most definitely.

Let’s hope Kris finds his game, and soon. We sure need him.