Kris Letang's playoffs

[A91]

Great gif.

Letang has no trade value atm.
7.25m till 2022..Nobody is touching that.

Lucic++ for Letang

You owe us for Jultz

 

[kerrabria]

I'd glady take both on the Habs. Fans are so fickle, it's pathetic

For Petry and Galchenyuk thanks

 

[wgknestrick]

If you remove Letang from PIT's PP, you will easily see how terrible and ineffective player he is (not getting tons of 2nd assists to pad his stats). Sure, he has had good to great performances for short periods of time, but he literally does nothing to help your team win games. For every good play he makes, he makes 2 bad ones all over the ice. He is not a player you want out on the ice for a 1/3rd of the game, for sure. He was pretty good back in 2016 playoffs, but yikes before and after that.

He has the worst on ice SV% of all PIT's D over the last 3 years combined. While I'm typing this, he's probably given up another break away/odd man rush. Some of his positioning and awareness is bantam league bad.
5v5 pt production has fallen through the floor.
5v5 GF% is worst on the team and sub 50%....ie bleeding goal differential away at 5v5....this is supposed to be a #1D on a very good team.
His WYWO numbers show that he has a negative effect on teammate's GF% at 5v5...IE players are more effective at 5v5 with him on the bench.
Gets favorable zone starts
Still makes 7mil / year until 2022!

 

[Sentinel]

Funny how Pittsburgh fans pile up on their All-Star defenseman who happened to score at almost PPG rate, including a goal in their final game, and who recently had a legitimate case for the Conn Smythe trophy.

I mean, we had Rafalski, but... damn.

Not a peep about Kessel's no-show or Crosby's turnover.

 

[SouthGeorge]

Watch the video. It’s obvious he was headed toward the bench.

Of course he’s not going to throw blame at Crosby during the presser.

It's not obvious. He's been making that mistake all of his career. I pointed out how he's done it two other times this series alone. As the RD in that situation he can change at any time when the puck is deep. Trust me if he was going for a change, he would have said so. He never takes the blame. He said "it wasn't a mistake" They lost the puck at the Caps blue line and they get a breakaway and no mistakes were made

 

[Leonhard Euler]

Unless I'm forgetting someone he is the first white player to make it into the NHL. He deserves some respect you blasphemous swines!

 

[tarheelhockey]

It's not obvious. He's been making that mistake all of his career. I pointed out how he's done it two other times this series alone. As the RD in that situation he can change at any time when the puck is deep. Trust me if he was going for a change, he would have said so. He never takes the blame. He said "it wasn't a mistake" They lost the puck at the Caps blue line and they get a breakaway and no mistakes were made

He'd already been on the ice for over 30 seconds, in an OT playoff game where he had led his team in TOI with over 28 minutes, he had just passed the puck over the offensive blue line, and he was skating directly toward the bench.

Regardless what he says, I find it very hard to believe he wasn't going for a change. If that's true, the Pens coaching staff are a bunch of clowns when it comes to shift management.

 

[SouthGeorge]

He'd already been on the ice for over 30 seconds, in an OT playoff game where he had led his team in TOI with over 28 minutes, he had just passed the puck over the offensive blue line, and he was skating directly toward the bench.

Regardless what he says, I find it very hard to believe he wasn't going for a change. If that's true, the Pens coaching staff are a bunch of clowns when it comes to shift management.

If he was going for a change, somebody would have jumped on the ice. He was right there. It would be a great excuse. Sadly, he's really that stupid.

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

 

[Machinehead]

Do he and Dumoulin have chemistry issues? They seem to constantly be on the same side of the ice.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

We replaced Letang with Hainsey last year and won the Cup

Letang directly lost the Pens the last 2 games. he needs to go

Wasn't he also, technically, the only reason that the last game even went to overtime?

 

[tarheelhockey]

If he was going for a change, somebody would have jumped on the ice. He was right there. It would be a great excuse. Sadly, he's really that stupid.

You can see a Pens player stand up to change as the puck crossed the blue line.

There was nobody else heading toward the bench other than Letang. The forwards were on a rush and not even vaguely suggesting a line change. The only rational person to change in that situation was Letang, and he was skating toward the bench.

Letang was still 10 feet away when he realized Crosby had turned the puck over and turned to sprint back. Therefore nobody in their right mind would have jumped over the wall yet.

 

[Paddyjack]

Great gif.

Letang has no trade value atm.
7.25m till 2022..Nobody is touching that.

Former star defenseman: check
Stanley Cup winner: check
Had terrible playoffs this year: check
Injury prone?: check
Terrible contract?: Check
Team needs PMD? Check
Idiot GM in charge? Check

See ya in Montreal Kris....

 

[SouthGeorge]

You can see a Pens player stand up to change as the puck crossed the blue line.

There was nobody else heading toward the bench other than Letang. The forwards were on a rush and not even vaguely suggesting a line change. The only rational person to change in that situation was Letang, and he was skating toward the bench.

Letang was still 10 feet away when he realized Crosby had turned the puck over and turned to sprint back. Therefore nobody in their right mind would have jumped over the wall yet.

I don't know why you are trying to defend this goof. I've had to watch this dummy play for 10 years.

 

[HoustonCapsFan]

Quick question. If Kuznetzov doesn't score on the breakaway, do the refs call a penalty on Letang for throwing his stick on the play?

 

[Crosbyfan]

You can see a Pens player stand up to change as the puck crossed the blue line.

There was nobody else heading toward the bench other than Letang. The forwards were on a rush and not even vaguely suggesting a line change. The only rational person to change in that situation was Letang, and he was skating toward the bench.

Letang was still 10 feet away when he realized Crosby had turned the puck over and turned to sprint back. Therefore nobody in their right mind would have jumped over the wall yet.

It's Letang. No one really knows what his intention was for sure...including Letang...maybe even God

 

[TomasHertlsRooster]

Letang was one of the 5 best defensemen in the NHL in the 2015-2016 regular season and he was one of the 5 best players in the NHL in the 2015-2016 playoffs so let’s please not pretend like he has always been terrible.

Injuries got the best of this guy but he was a phenomenal defenseman at one point.

 

[JackFrost]

Kessel was the Penns biggest no show, not Letang. . The forwards never get half the blame as defenseman though due to the nature of the sport. The same forwards who were responsible for 0 goals in the deciding game. Who was it that scored the sole point again?

 

[tarheelhockey]

I don't know why you are trying to defend this goof. I've had to watch this dummy play for 10 years.

I’m not defending Letang, I’m pointing out that people are getting so sucked into this narrative that they’re overlooking what actually caused that turnover and counter-rush.

 

[Old Gregg]

Meh I'm not sure who to really blame on the OT goal. Letang passed the puck up to Crosby who took the pass on his backhand while reaching slightly for the puck but it looked like Kuznetsov hit either Crosby's stick or the puck itself causing it to go back to the Caps dman who then turned it around and the puck went back up the ice quickly.

I mean Letang could be blamed, Dumoulin could be blamed for being so wide and floating towards the blue line, Crosby for not receiving the pass well or Murray for leaving his 5 hole wide open...but in the end Kuznetsov made two great plays...he caused the turnover and scored the GWG.

 

[ZeroPucksGiven]

Funny how Pittsburgh fans pile up on their All-Star defenseman who happened to score at almost PPG rate, including a goal in their final game, and who recently had a legitimate case for the Conn Smythe trophy.

I mean, we had Rafalski, but... damn.

Not a peep about Kessel's no-show or Crosby's turnover.

Yikes, anything related to the Pens and you're all over it. What did this team do to you besides prevent your back to back title?
It's bordering on creepy

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

Quick question. If Kuznetzov doesn't score on the breakaway, do the refs call a penalty on Letang for throwing his stick on the play?

Would've been a penalty shot.

 

[absolute garbage]

Meh I'm not sure who to really blame on the OT goal. Letang passed the puck up to Crosby who took the pass on his backhand while reaching slightly for the puck but it looked like Kuznetsov hit either Crosby's stick or the puck itself causing it to go back to the Caps dman who then turned it around and the puck went back up the ice quickly.

I mean Letang could be blamed, Dumoulin could be blamed for being so wide and floating towards the blue line, Crosby for not receiving the pass well or Murray for leaving his 5 hole wide open...but in the end Kuznetsov made two great plays...he caused the turnover and scored the GWG.

The whole play starts with Letang's off-the-mark pass. Crosby has to reach for it pretty extensively towards the middle and can't control the puck as he gets pressured by Kuznetsov. After that, I can't tell whether it was because Letang was going for the change or not, but clearly he wasn't in a proper position to defend. And even if he was going for a change, it's still his responsibility to make sure he only goes for it when there's no chance of the play going quickly the other way. He didn't do that. Dumolin didn't do anything wrong. Crosby could've made a better play, but Letang handcuffed him pretty badly. Great play by Kuznetsov, but Letang is really the only one to blame for that goal.

In general Penguins defense was pretty lackluster this year. Letang was playing like crap, Ruhwedel is a fringe guy and Oleksiak is a Gudbranson-like zero skill turnover machine. When that's half of your defense, and then you have Maatta who has his limitations and needs better support than that, it means trouble. Rutherford is perhaps the most perplexing manager I've seen. Some of the things he does are pure gold and some are just obvious garbage. Wonder what he does about that blueline going forward. Hunwick and his contract LOL.

 

[Anisimovs AK]

Funny how no one is calling out Kessel at all.

He had one goal the entire playoffs.


One

 

[DickSmehlik]

Funny how no one is calling out Kessel at all.

He had one goal the entire playoffs.


One

Something, something HOT DOGS.

ROFLMAO