It’s official. Kris Letang is staying in Pittsburgh as he signed a 6-YEAR, $36.6M contract today. Yes, you read that right. The 35-year-old Letang was resigned for another 6 YEARS!
Okay, I get that Kris Letang is coming off his greatest season point wise and deserved a new contract. Scoring 10 goals and assisting another 58 to put up a grand total of 68pts (as a defenseman, no less) is fantastic. Even more so considering Letang was 34 going on 35 all throughout last season.
Unfortunately for Letang, nearly every defenseman in the NHL last season put up astronomical point tallies too. So, Letang only finished 6th in defenseman scoring, with John Carlson (WSH: 71pts), Adam Fox (NYR: 74pts), Victor Hedman (TBL: 85pts), Cale Makar (COL: 86pts), and Roman Josi (NSH: 96pts) all coming in ahead of him.
However, unlike the rest of those people I named, Kris Letang is the oldest player on that list, with Hedman and Josi coming in second at 31-years old. So, Letang’s great numbers can be viewed with the knowledge that he was putting up career-high numbers while being 34/35 years old.
Obviously, he deserved a $6.1M/year salary. What I can’t get my head around is why did the Penguins give him a 6 YEAR CONTRACT?!?!
Like I said, Letang is now 35 years old. By the time this contract is over, he will be 41 going on 42 years old. The only way I can see a team justifiably paying any 41-year-old hockey player that much money is if his name was either Geordie Howe, Chris Chelios, or Jaromir Jagar.
Seeing as that is not the case, the Pens are paying a ridiculous cap number for SUCH A LONG TIME for Letang.
Now, I understand that the Penguins are in a “win now” mode for Crosby and Letang, which is why they have trade 1st-round picks and prospects for veterans (ex: Rickard Rakell, Jeff Carter, Evan Rodrigues, and Conor Sheary) and have given long, overpriced salaries to players who really shouldn’t be earning so much money (ex: Jason Zucker).
But what about in four years’ time when Crosby is 38 and Letang is 39? Surely, the window for Stanely Cup glory will over by that point. And with Malkin most likely out the door this summer, we may see Crosby getting ready to retire when his contract is up too (which is in four years).
Yet, when the Penguins will be trying to rebuild around new franchise superstars, they are going to be stuck having to pay a horrid $6.1M cap hit and a (most likely) useless 39-year-old Letang.
Anyway, this move is good for the Pens for the short term. Letang is one of the Top-10 defensemen in the NHL still, and his presence would have been sorely missed if he signed elsewhere.
All I can say is that Pittsburgh better break their 1st-round exit streak within the next four years and win a sixth cup. Or else this Letang contract will age like milk.
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