You can say that a million times and all it does is prove that yes, we can keep a competitive roster while having Letang.
It says nothing about Letang being WORTH that, says nothing about whether we NEED him, says nothing about whether we would be better off spending that money differently.
Sid, Malkin, Neal being on the GREAT contracts they are and us having the affordable young D we do could also be an incentive to get more quality depth rather than another super star - particularly if that super star is not playing like one while getting paid as if he was.
Ultimately, Letang can be a good signing at 7.25, sure. But he has to play a lot better defensively, a whole heck of a lot better, than he has for several years.
What's your point? I never said he was untouchable if the right offer came along. But there aren't Taylor Halls and Patrick or Evander Kanes being thrown at us for Letang. And I don't see LA or STL standing by with a one for one offer or Pietrangelo or Doughty either. If/when a deal came by for an ELITE forward, I would happily consider it. I'm not biased nor closed-minded on this issue, I'm just realistic. If we can improve our team at any way and at any time, I'd be thrilled to do it, but there's no indication that there's any dialogue with other teams or that we're considering moving this player.
So reality tells us that we are "stuck" with Letang and his "outrageous" contract for the next 8 years. But history also strongly suggests that Dmen do not peak at his age, and with that in mind + what he has shown us in the past, I have every reason to believe that Kris will find his game again. He's one of the best Dmen in the league who has done nothing but improve his game and his fitness EVERY season, with the sole exception of this insanely interrupted one. We still don't even know if he will jive with Rob Scuderi yet (who has been pretty underwhelming himself since he came back).
Bottom line: perhaps people are bored, or perhaps there's a lack of other stuff to talk about, but it's FAR too premature to rush to rush to judgement and truly evaluate how good Letang will be for the back 3rd or 1/4 of the season and playoffs, or if he'll actually find chemistry with Scuderi. I'll be the first one to admit that Letang's game tonight was a brutal one. But I also think his last game was excellent, and we've just seen too many excellent play from him many times over the past couple of years to think, or at least realistically hope, that he can find his game and consistency again.
So I would personally like to see people back off this issue for a little while and see how things play out. And if we get an offer that blows our hair back, I'm sure we'll look at it very, very seriously. But let's not pretend that we have anyone (such as Pouliot) ready to step in now and bring what Letang brings this season or even next. Re-signings would have to occur (Niskanen, extension to Martin), and we would have to get an ELITE, ELITE forward (or insane package of goods) coming back for us (aka Shero and Lemieux) to realisitically consider trading this player at this point. So until such time that this happens, this conversation is moot and
entirely in the realm of the hypothetical.