Penguins Veteran D-Man Kris Letang Undergoes Heart Surgery

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The Pittsburgh Penguins announced Wednesday that they will be without one of their long-time franchise centerpieces for their season finale against the Washington Capitals on Thursday, following news that veteran defenseman Kris Letang underwent a procedure to close a small hole in his heart.

The team announced this news in a brief statement.

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"Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Kris Letang underwent successful surgery, it was announced today by President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Kyle Dubas," the statement reads. "Letang had successful closure of a patent foramen ovale (PFO; small hole in the heart). The procedure was performed at UPMC Presbyterian Hospital by interventional cardiologist Dr. Conrad Smith."

It's expected that it will take Letang four to six weeks to recover from the procedure, which means he will not miss any additional playing time as the Penguins have been eliminated from playoff contention.

Letang has 19 NHL seasons under his belt, and he has been an absolute warrior as a stalwaart on the Pittsburgh Blueline while also battling some serious health issues through his career.

TSN noted that several years ago, Letang missed some playing time after suffering some strokes, which were attributed to a hole in his heart.

Letang has been a huge part of the last three Stanley Cups the franchise has won along with his longtime running mates Sidney Crosby and Evegeni Malkin, but what's interesting is that after all of these years he still does a lot of the heavy lifting on the backend.

Letang's offensive output — 30 points (9G, 21A) — was his lowest since the 2009-10 season. but he still finished the year as the team's leader in average ice time, logging an impressive 23:32 minutes a night on average.

So, despite being 38 years old next season, Letang still has a lot of gas in the tank.

Here's to a speedy recovery, and we all look forward to seeing him back on the ice in the fall.

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Matt is a University of Central Florida graduate and a long-suffering Philadelphia Flyers fan living in Orlando, Florida. He can usually be heard playing guitar, shoe-horning obscure quotes from The Simpsons into conversations, or giving dissertations to captive audiences on why Iron Maiden is the greatest band of all time.