Kris Letang’s four-year, $14 million contract has deep ramifications on the Pittsburgh Penguins, of course, in this salary cap world. Letang is young, he’s good and now he’s been paid. SB Nation’s Penguins blog, Pensburgh, reacted to the contract extension.
Could This Be The End Of Gonchar’s Time In Pitt? Penguins Fans React To Kris Letang’s Contract Extension
Letang, who will turn 23 years old next month, has already played 223 NHL regular season games (and 39 more in playoff action). That kind of experience is almost unheard of for a defenseman. It was expected that Letang would blossom this season offensively, after he scored 13 points in 22 playoff games last spring, but that hasn’t been the case.
However lately he’s played some very strong hockey and is on a “shutdown” defensive unit with Brooks Orpik that often matches up against the opposition’s best forwards. Letang also has a special skill-set on the shootout, he’s 4 for 10 this season with 3 “Game deciding” goals.
A $3.5 million cap hit for Letang represents a raise of $2.665 million on the salary cap. The Penguins, tight to the cap as it is, are going to have to account for that. Does that have ramifications for Sergei Gonchar? It sure seems like it.
Some people are speculating that Letang’s contract signing essentially spells the end of Gonchar’s time in Pittsburgh. Adam Gretz at FanHouse is one of those people, saying Tuesday afternoon that the Pens will have about “$12 million and $15 million in cap space for next season to fill six roster spots” and that “Gonchar, based on his current deal and still-solid production, would require at least $5 million of that available cap space.”
Seems like he’ll be going elsewhere in free agency, indeed. Recently, Gonchar has missed some time due to injury, and Pensburgh discussed how the team looked without their best defenseman in the lineup. Almost like they knew this contract extension was coming, they mentioned how much of the responsibility is going to fall on Letang if and when Gonchar does leave town.
Sergei Gonchar, resident #1 defenseman on the Pittsburgh Penguins for the five years he's been here, has missed the last three games due to an illness. He's expected to be back soon - probably by Wednesday - but his absence has given the Penguins a sneak peak of what life without Gonch would be like.
Sans Sarge, a lot is going to fall to young defensemen Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski. And that hasn't disappointed yet. Let's look at some particulars over these past three games. It's a very small sample size, but some trends are beginning to emerge.
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Goligoski and Letang are getting a lot more playing time, and combined they're throwing a lot more rubber to the net than they have been this season. But they haven't produced any points, and Gonchar's scored an average of .798 points/game during his stint as a Pittsburgh Penguin. The young players are going to have to get on the scoreboard, but for now they're doing quite well at filling the gaps and keeping the momentum going.
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