When hard news hits, no matter how anticipated, it still hurts. And sends the mind whirling in a whole lot of ways.
Some whirling-in-a-whole-lot-of-ways thoughts on Kris Letang being lost to the Penguins for the coming Stanley Cup playoffs:
• The first has to be for the man and his family, his wife Catherine Laflamme, and his young son Alexander. The man himself has been through more major health matters at age 29 than most will endure in a lifetime, with the stroke, the hole in the heart, the history of migraines, all the many shoulder, knee and other conventional hockey injuries ... and now this herniated disk in his neck, the surgery for which will keep him out until next season.
He's made tens of millions, he's a two-time Stanley Cup champion, and he's got it all in life. But anyone who's lost their health, even for a spell, can attest that it all gets reduced to that one thing when it happens.
Best wishes for this tremendous person, husband and father.
If that doesn't come first for anyone invested in following this franchise, then I dare say a priority reset is in order.
• Nothing about Letang's long-term future in Pittsburgh will or should be affected by this.
His eight-year, $58 million extension, signed in July 2013 under Ray Shero's watch and with the impassioned blessing of ownership, runs through 2021-22. And if all those other ailments and injuries didn't derail in the slightest the faith and support of Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle, then this won't either. You can count on that. It's not how they operate.
On the night of June 12, 2016, in San Jose, minutes after Letang dominated the rink with a Stanley Cup Final performance for the ages, Lemieux told me, "Anytime you have great players, you can win the Cup."
That's his firm belief, in addition to building the family atmosphere that he and Burkle have all through the organization. That's why they've rightly dismissed similar concerns over the years about Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, whether those were based on health or productivity. Because great players will do things that opponents can't counter, just as Letang did to the Sharks that night in Game 6. There's no answer for it.
Lemieux, the most talented player hockey's ever seen, appreciates that element above all. All four of the rings on his fingers demonstrate why.
• A fifth ring this summer will be more challenging than ever. But hardly impossible.
Letang finishes this season with 41 games played, exactly half the schedule. But the team is 49-19-11 with three games to go. That's second-best in the NHL, five points back of the Capitals. Their offense is No. 1 in the league. Their shots per game is No. 1. Their goal differential is No. 5. Their power play is No. 5. Their penalty-kill is down at No. 20, but it's actually strengthened quite a bit in recent weeks.
Put it this way: They're 25-10-6 with Letang, 24-9-5 without him.
That's a Cup contender with or without Letang, and I say that with all due respect and without dismissing the loss.
That's a team that can and should beat the Blue Jackets in the first round.
That's a team that can -- if not should -- beat the Capitals after that.
That's a team that can -- and absolutely should -- beat anyone else if it gets past Washington, especially out of the weaker West.
There are other injuries in the equation, obviously, not least of which is to Malkin. But there's no cause to believe he won't be ready for the playoffs, albeit likely not at 100 percent.
It's still a really good hockey team. Possibly another great one.
• It's time for Justin Schultz to take yet another step.
He's taken so many since arriving in Pittsburgh that it seems almost unfair to ask for more. But there's no choice here. The breakthrough season he's having -- 12 goals, 37 assists, plus-26 rating -- has him routinely cited among the league's best defensemen. That's appropriate.
But there's a difference between driving on a learner's permit and navigating the Fort Pitt Bridge merges on your own.
Through all this, Schultz has operated with the sense that Letang would eventually return, retake his standard half-hour of ice time and once again be the man. That role now falls to him. As does the extra responsibility. As does all the extra punishment, as he'll now be the No. 1 target for Columbus' bruising, vicious forecheck.
Schultz can't just endure that. He's got to embrace it.
Imagine how amazing that would be to watch.
• I'm guessing few will agree with this, but my feeling for a good while has been that this defense is deeper than the one from last summer. And I'm not willing to flip back on that just yet.
Going back to the Final again, as well as the Eastern Conference Final, the Penguins faced the Lightning and Sharks without Trevor Daley due to the knee injury, and they didn't have Steve Oleksy because of a shoulder injury. The primary healthy scratch up in the press box was Derrick Pouliot. He would have been next in line.
Let me repeat that: Pouliot was the depth.
And the Penguins were extraordinarily fortunate no one else went down the rest of the way, in part because Tampa Bay played a similar style and didn't hit anyone.
Fast-forward back to now, and here are my Game 1 pairings for these playoffs:
Ian Cole-Justin Schultz
Brian Dumoulin-Trevor Daley
Mark Streit-Ron Hainsey
Olli Maatta-Chad Ruhwedel