Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Kris Letang told NHL Live on Friday that he is progressing well in his recovery from a late-season concussion that kept him out of the Eastern Conference First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
"I'm doing great, making some progress," Letang said. "I've had a lot of meetings with different doctors, and time will get me better, and obviously I want to be ready for training camp."
Letang was ruled out for the Penguins' 4-1 series loss to the New York Rangers. He said he wanted to play in Game 1 on April 16, but doctors thought it was in his best interest to remain on the sidelines. Letang sustained the concussion when a hit from Arizona Coyotes forward Shane Doan forced him to hit the boards awkwardly during a 3-2 victory on March 28.
"I wanted to play real bad because I started to feel really good after two, three weeks," Letang said. "They just didn't allow me to play, and they wanted to make sure long-term that it was the right choice."
Letang had a career-high 43 assists and 54 points in 69 games to lead Pittsburgh defensemen. He tied his career-high of 11 goals and finished seventh in scoring among NHL defensemen, despite missing 13 games.
Letang was nominated for the 2015 Bill Masterton Trophy on Thursday along with goalies Devan Dubnyk of the Minnesota Wild and Andrew Hammond of the Ottawa Senators.