Letestu could 'be an option' for Jets in Cup Qualifiers

Mark Letestu said he could "be an option" for the Winnipeg Jets when the NHL resumes its season, months after fearing his playing career was over.

Myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle diagnosed in October, sidelined the forward for more than four months and put his hockey-playing future in doubt.

But the 35-year-old was given medical clearance to resume playing on Feb. 27, and Letestu was activated by the Jets and assigned to Manitoba of the American Hockey League on March 10, two days before the NHL paused its season due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus.

Now, Letestu believes he is in position to help the Jets in the best-of-5 Stanley Cup Qualifier against the Calgary Flames, at a date to be determined. The NHL entered Phase 2 of the Return to Play Plan on Monday, which allows players to return to team facilities and skate in groups of no more than six players. The start dates for Phase 3, the opening of training camps, and Phase 4, the resumption of play, are still to be determined.

For Letestu, Winnipeg's nominee for the Masterton Trophy for perseverance and dedication to hockey, announced Tuesday, the protocols for coming back after the pause provide an opportunity for him to get on a level playing field with his teammates.

"At the time in March, the likelihood of me playing was pretty small," Letestu said Tuesday. "And that's not based on anything other than the guys in that room playing at the time had earned the right to get to play those games, and I fully respect that. As a teammate, I was just trying to prepare and it's shown that injuries happen and you want to be ready if there's an opportunity.

"But as this quarantine has gone on and everybody's been put on the shelf, my disadvantage for playing was not being active and trying to ramp back up quickly. Now everybody's going to have to deal with that similarly. The internal competition at training camp, there might be a little bit there and my focus is to go into whatever camp they give us and be an option, and hopefully more of an option than I would have been in March."

In his 11-season NHL career, Letestu has 201 points (93 goals, 117 points) in 567 games with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Columbus Blue Jackets, Edmonton Oilers and Jets.

He signed a one-year, $700,000 contract with the Jets on July 2, 2019 and earned the job as Winnipeg's fourth-line center out of training camp, playing the first seven games of the season before he was ruled out because of his condition, which was discovered during preseason testing and confirmed through follow-up testing.

Letestu was shut down Oct. 14 and told any activity or light workouts were limited to keeping his heart rate where he could carry on a conversation.

Myocarditis, usually caused by a viral infection, can affect the heart muscle, reducing the heart's ability to pump and causing rapid or abnormal heart rhythms, according to the Mayo Clinic, which made the diagnosis in October and cleared Letestu to resume his career in February.

He had no pain, no symptoms and needed no medication to deal with the condition.

Letestu is in Columbus, where he has spent the pause with his family. He has continued to work out and said he resumed skating at a local rink this week.

"I've been looking to keep active because it's a moving target, really," he said. "So you're trying to stay as in shape as possible. I don't have a home gym so it's been pretty limited, lifting paint cans and wrapping my kids in towels [to lift them] and we're kind of having fun with it as a family, doing what I can.

"But Ohio's a little bit ahead here and I've gotten three weeks of full training here and started on the ice this week. As far as getting ready for the playoffs, the way everything's opening up here, I'll have the means to be ready to go."