Penguins defenseman Kris Letang (above) will be sidelined for two weeks due to a righ shoulder contusion. He was injured in Saturday's 5-0 loss to the Sharks in a collision with Sharks defenseman Kent Huskins. In 17 games this season, Letang has seven points (one goal, six assists) and is a plus-1. With Sergei Gonchar already out of the lineup due to a broken left wrist, Letang had been moved up to the team's first power play unit.
EN Says: Well this is just awesome.
In all seriousness, this is one of the last things this team needed at this time. It has essentially lost three "starters" from what is already a struggling power play.
If there's a silver lining to this, at least it's only two weeks. That translates to roughly six games.
Obviously, Deryk Engelland will get some playing time. But don't expect him to replace Letang. He is strictly a physical, defensive sort.
We're interested to see how Dan Bylsma adjusts his team's game without one of it's top offensive defensemen. He constantly preaches aggressive hockey. Well that's a lot easier when you have a full compliment of defensemen who can skate with the puck. Now that Alex Goligoski, who wasn't exactly running at 100 percent late week, is the only one left on the blue line, the Penguins might have to adopt a more conservative approach.
(Photo: Jamie Sabau/Getty Images)
Posted
Nov 09 2009, 10:05 PM
by
Seth Rorabaugh