Letang's confidence in core, Penguins unwavering into Year 17

CRANBERRY, Pa. -- Kris Letang has seen a lot of faces come and go from the Penguins' locker room over his 16 (going on 17) seasons with the team.

When the offseason began, he wasn't sure if Evgeni Malkin, who has been with him every step of the way, would become one of those faces to go.

He wasn't sure if he would become one of those faces, either.

Following the first day of training camp here in Cranberry at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex on Thursday, I asked Letang if doubt ever crept into his mind before inking a six-year, $36 million contract to stay in Pittsburgh. He knew he wanted to return, but felt the chances of it happening were the same as a coin flip.

"You never know," Letang told me. "There’s more components that we don’t really control. You can look at other franchises in the league, sometimes they have great players, but sometimes they decide to take a different turn or have a different vision of the team. You never know with those things, you have to expect them. ... It was 50/50, I didn't know."

Letang signed his contract on July 7, five days prior to Malkin signing a four-year, $24.4 million contract to stay in Pittsburgh. Malkin told the media Thursday that even though he never met with Letang or Sidney Crosby in person during the offseason, the three texted each other "almost every day" throughout the process of Letang and Malkin's contract negotiations.

All players are well aware of the fact that the NHL is a business above all else. While Letang admitted he would've understood Malkin's decision if he left, the thought of Malkin finishing out his career with another team didn't sit well with him.

"Obviously we created a pretty strong relationship between all three of us," Letang said. "I wouldn’t see Geno on any other team. He’s such a dangerous player, and anything you would’ve tried to do to replace him, you would lose that tradeoff. So to have him on our side and being able to witness what he does every night … he’s a magician out there. He does things that nobody can, and you want him on your team. And obviously, like I said, the relationship that we have, it’s good to have him back and try to keep it going together."

Letang, as well as Crosby and Malkin, aren't even so much as entertaining the idea that they're too old to compete for another Stanley Cup. 

After all, the Penguins were a competent goaltender away from advancing to the second round of the postseason this past May, and with the way they were dominating the Rangers everywhere except in goal, a run wasn't out of the question whatsoever.

The Penguins, Letang said, felt like they had a team that could go the distance. That's why the loss to the Rangers stung a bit more than postseason exits in years past.

That's also why -- with the core intact and a couple of new additions throughout the lineup -- Letang believes the Penguins are postured well to run it back this season.

"People saw what we were able to do, so why change everything when we were that close?" Letang said. "But we made some adjustments, that’s for sure, that we feel spots that maybe we were lacking in different aspects of the game, so, we’ll see what happens.

"We have different guys that bring different aspects of the game that we didn’t have in the past. And the fact that last year we had a tremendous year, even with Geno’s injury, Sid’s injury, we had guys out of the lineup a bunch of time. We were able in October to get points, when people thought we were gonna be tanking or something, but you know, we had a great team. Unfortunately we had so many injuries in the playoffs. We didn’t get the result we wanted, but (it’s) the same group of guys, and they’re all at the top of their game."

With a full season of Rickard Rakell in the mix, Malkin and Bryan Rust back on new contracts, plus Jeff Petry and Jan Rutta bolstering the defense corps, Letang is excited that the Penguins have added another dimension to their lineup that figures to make them even tougher to play against.

"After a year or so, it would be fun to see what he can do all year long," Letang said of Rakell. "Such a talented player, good goal scorer. You have a guy like Rutta, too, that is coming to our team, but having Geno back, Rusty back, they’re huge players for us. They can change a game by themselves with the way they play."

Later, Letang went into specifics as to why he's glad to have Petry and Rutta in the fold, as well as what elements they bring to the Penguins' blue line.

"Well, obviously Jeff is a really good defenseman both ways of the ice," Letang said. "He has a great shot, he has good offensive instincts. And obviously he’s big body that can defend well in his zone. Jan is, obviously the experience he’s got throughout the years he played in Tampa, he’s part of a winning culture, so that’s gonna bring us a lot. And he’s a guy that is willing to go to war out there … it’s pretty big to have them."

Letang was the last of the Penguins to arrive in Pittsburgh for informal skates in advance of training camp, but it wasn't for a lack of commitment, or whatever, if that really even needed to be said. He was grinding away in the gym, like always, back in Montreal before his arrival:

The 35-year-old was asked if the long summer has his body feeling any better than usual, but Letang said the length wasn't much different than the last few years. He never specified how his body is actually feeling, but with the way he moved around on the ice on Thursday, I reckon he's feeling just fine.

This core knows they aren't going to have the chance to compete for a Stanley Cup together forever. Considering how they've spoken, it almost feels as if there's an added sense of urgency to take advantage of this season as their last legitimate shot.

The Penguins aren't among the Cup favorites right now, but the confidence of the core that oozes throughout the entire organization might be enough to potentially power this team to something special, so long as everything else falls into place.