Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Kris Letang has returned to practice only 10 days after suffering the 2nd stroke of his career.
The 35 year old was taken to a local hospital last Monday following what he described as migraine-like symptoms. Upon further investigation, the medical team determined he had suffered a small stroke and would be sidelined indefinitely.
Letang previously missed 2 months of action in 2014 when he suffered the first stroke of his career, but says that the symptoms are resolving themselves much quicker this time around.
“It’s a great visual that he’s making progress,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “Our medical team that has monitored him extremely closely feels comfortable with some of the progress that he’s making and the steps he’s taken. Everyone was excited for him to join the group.”
The six time All-Star revealed it was great to be back on the ice, but he doesn’t have a clear return date when he could see game action quite yet.
“We’ve been through this,” Letang said. “Me and Dharmesh have a clear understanding that we’re going to take all the time we need and make sure the research is possible and it’s no danger for me to keep going.”
Pitssburgh is currently riding a 3 game winning streak, and are 8-1-1 over their last 10 games. Currently sitting in 3rd place in the Metropolitan Division, neither Letang nor the team’s coaching staff are in any rush to hurry him back to live games.
   The Montreal native recently signed a 6 year contract extension over the summer which will ensure he remains a member of the Penguins organization into his 40’s.
Photo: Michael Miller. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.