Letang's return to form after neck surgery earns Masterton nomination

On April 5, 2017, a devastated
Kris Letang
stood at the podium to address the media at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex.
The team had just announced that he needed to undergo surgery for a herniated disc in his neck, with the recovery period expected to be 4-6 months. It was heartbreaking news for the defenseman, who had already dealt with so many health setbacks in his career.

"Right now, it's pretty hard to swallow. It was not expected," Letang said at the time. "I was going through rehab. It was going really well. It's just in the last week that it blew up on me. It's hard, but like I've done in the past, I'm going to put my energy into getting better and getting back to where I was."
Now, almost a year later, Letang has done exactly that. The 30-year-old is back to being the undisputed leader of the team's defensemen - being named an alternate captain this season - and their biggest workhorse.
He's back to playing over 25 minutes a game and playing in all situations - even strength, power play and penalty killing - and producing points, with 45 in 73 games. He even earned the fourth All-Star nod of his career this season.
Letang's return to elite form after such an arduous rehab and recovery has led to him being nominated by the Pittsburgh Chapter of Professional Hockey Writers Association as the team's Masterton Trophy nominee.
The Masterton Trophy is given out yearly by the NHL to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to the sport of hockey.
"It's a great honor, but at the same time it's always because of an injury or something that happened," Letang said of being up for the award for the third time in his career. "But it's good. It was good to be back this year.
"It didn't go the way I wanted all year long, but I'm just glad I'm playing hockey again and we're a top team again in the league. We're going to try to get in the playoffs and compete for another Cup."
The process to get to this point was more difficult than Letang could have ever imagined. It began on Feb. 21, 2017, when Letang was first held out of the lineup to figure out how to treat the injury without surgery. After the attempts were unsuccessful, Letang went under the knife on April 13.
Post-surgery, Letang was in a lot of pain and couldn't turn his head as it was stabilized with a collar. The first two weeks were especially difficult.
From there, Letang took his first step back into the gym after being medically cleared to begin riding a stationary bike. He remained very limited early on and wasn't wasn't allowed to do any jumping, running, heavy lifting, overhead activities or anything that put weight on his shoulders. He made frequent trips to New York for MRIs and CTs, and each successful visit was followed by another step in the gym.
In July, Letang skated for the first time. But the final hurdle came on Sept. 5, which is when he was cleared for contact. Letang began the team's training camp with full participation. After a week of handling physical contact, the doctors gave Letang their blessing to return to the ice. At that point, Letang thought the hardest part was over.
He was wrong.
"It was an adjustment. I didn't think it would be that much work," he admitted. "I think through the first few months, it was a work in progress. It was hard. I was not expecting it. But I'm making strides and I think as the games are going to get more important, my game is going to rise. So I'm excited for that."
Letang is vocal about the struggles he experienced throughout the course of this season. As he put it, he would have one good shift and one bad shift, "and at the end of the day, people and I remember the bad shifts, not the good shifts." But both he and head coach Mike Sullivan knew that he was capable of doing the job.
"He had missed so much hockey and he went through a very serious injury and a surgery and a rehab process," Sullivan said. "I think it's common sense to suggest that it was going to take time for him to recapture his game. He's such an elite player, we have such high expectations of him and his role and what he does to help this team win. We knew it was going to take time with 'Tanger,' there were going to be some ups and downs, and we we're going to have to try to manage through it and help him with his own expectations and managing his own emotional frustration with that process."
Sullivan constantly preaches staying in the moment when it comes to the Penguins fighting for a playoff spot, but that's the mindset Letang has in general when it comes to simply playing hockey, considering everything he's been through.
Letang was chosen as one of three finalists for the Masterton Trophy in 2015 after returning from a stroke to post a remarkable, Norris Trophy-caliber season. He was also nominated by the PHWA in 2014 following his incredible late-season comeback that April after suffering the stroke in January of that year. Not to mention he's dealt with numerous other injuries throughout his career.
But as Letang said, all of the adversity he's gone through has made him learn about himself and has improved him as a person, and has truly made him stronger.
"Sometimes you don't realize how lucky you are to play," he said. "I had the chance to live that last year when I was watching the guys play. When I came back, you never know it's going to stop or you never know when you're going to be on the sidelines. I enjoy every moment right now."