Kris Letang’s tragic yet triumphant 2022-23 season lingers in his heart

NASHVILLE – Kris Letang may one day earn a call to the Hall of Fame. Don’t sleep on it. The longtime Pittsburgh Penguins stalwart blueliner is a two-time Stanley Cup winner, a two-time second-team All-Star and has quietly finished top 10 in Norris Trophy voting eight times in his career. If his body of work someday earns him a Hall call, that might go down as the proudest individual achievement of his hockey career.

But right now, in the present? There was no prouder moment for Letang than Monday night at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, where he was announced as the winner of the 2022-23 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, which is given annually to the player who best exemplifies perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to the sport.

“My kids will see this in the house and they will know that their father never gave up in anything,” he said while accepting the award. “So, this is our family trophy.”

Sitting in the Letang household, the hardware will represent a triumph over what was an extremely harrowing year for the family. In November of 2022, Letang suffered a stroke, his second in less than a decade after he previously suffered one in 2014. He was ruled out indefinitely yet, remarkably, fought back and was medically cleared to return just two weeks later. He suited up Dec. 10 having missed just five games. A few weeks after that, Letang’s father, Claude Fouquet, passed away, and Letang left the team to stay home with his family in Montreal, unsure of when he’d feel ready to play again, feeling the weight of his health scare and personal loss. But the seeds were planted for his comeback when rallying around their heartbroken teammate, the Penguins took a team detour from a road trip to attend Fouquet’s wake in Montreal in early January.

“Sometimes the mind wasn’t there, and you don’t want to come to the rink and show those emotions because your teammates are there, they have a job to do,” Letang said Monday backstage after winning the Masterton. “I think what they did for me in Montreal to come down and be part of the funeral, being there for me and my family, triggered something in me at (that) point where my wife said, ‘You should actually go back to the rink and change your mind and try to forget about what happened in the last few months and try to get back on track.’ The guys will be there for you. That’s where it all started.”

Letang’s return couldn’t have been scripted better: in a Jan. 24 home game, he had two goals, two assists and the overtime winner. It was a breathtakingly emotional performance. In the end: overcoming extreme hardship in multiple forms, Letang still managed to play 64 games in 2022-23. A lot of Masterton Trophy winners rally from trying circumstances and return the following season. Letang endured a roller coaster all within one turn of the NHL schedule.

One person who wasn’t remotely surprised to see him persevere: rookie defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph, who lived with the Letang family this season and spoke at the Awards Monday, giving testimony as to why his great friend and mentor deserved the Masterton. It meant the world to Letang, who gushed about how much his family loved having Joseph in the house, bringing youthful energy all year.

“It was like five seconds after (he called me about the stroke) that I knew he was going to jump on the ice two or three days after,” Joseph said. “His life is surrounded by hockey and his family, and the passion that he has for the game, it’s his home. Being there, on the ice makes him feel better.”

Reiterating his previously stated desire to play into his 40s, Letang, chiseled physique present as ever underneath his tux, indicated his condition going forward is as manageable as one can hope.

“We’re aware of everything on the health side, so we know what to expect and there are certain things we’ll do eventually that are probably going to help,” Letang said. “As far as mentally, with everything that happened in my family, it’s something you can’t really put to the side. It’s something that’s always going to be there, but you have to be able to navigate through life with that, keep your focus on the things you have to do, and that’s what I’ve been doing with the help of everybody that surrounds me.”

Now, with his health and heart in a better place, Letang turns his focus toward an on-ice summit: getting the Penguins back to the Stanley Cup playoffs after their 16-year streak halted this past season.