yes we would come up short on the offense side. but as it gets harder for him to make up for his brain freezes a lot of that will cancel out the good that he dose (think matty). I would like to keep him but it will depend on the cost. and I'm not as high on him as some here.
The point is we don’t have any other options, it’s not about whether Letang is perfect or ideal or not. The only option that is any kind of reasonable Plan B is Klingberg. After that, there isn’t even a sure-fire #3, let alone another #1 or 2 Dman.
If we don’t keep Letang or sign Klingberg — and short of us going in a different direction and signing a superstar F like Gaudreau or Forsberg in addition to Rust/Malkin/Rakell and going all offense — then we really might as well start the full scale rebuild.
I just don’t see the Pens doing when 87 is still a > PPG superstar, and that we’ll try to push our window for another 2-3 years before doing that. But there’s no point being a middling team that maybe squeaks in as a #8 or finishes 9/10 in the conference.