Ten days after suffering a stroke, Penguins defenseman Kris Letang returned to practice Thursday.
Letang, who remains out indefinitely, said he felt pretty good after he skated out onto the ice at the Penguins’ practice facility but admitted that the experience was “scary.”
“My kids, they don’t care if I’m a hockey player or not,” Letang told reporters. “They care about having a dad. Same with my wife. She could care less about hockey. She knows there’s so much more. After hockey, there’s a long time, and you want to be able to enjoy those moments with your family, with your kids.”
Officially, he is day-to-day after suffering his second stroke on Nov. 28. He missed more than two months in 2014 after his first stroke, caused by a small hole in the wall of his heart.
Team physician Dr. Dharmesh Vyas described Letang’s most recent stroke as “smaller” than the one he had eight years ago, with the symptoms clearing up faster this time.
Letang began skating two days after the stroke and was cleared to return to practice Thursday, but he and Vyas said there was no rush for him to play.
“We don’t think this is accelerated in any way,” Vyas said. “We are taking all the right precautions to make sure that it is safe to go out and play, and when that time comes, we’ll let him go back to playing his sport.”
Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said it was a “relief” to see Letang back at practice, calling it a “great visual.”
“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,” Sullivan told reporters.
Letang signed a six-year $36.6 million contract extension over the summer that will take him to age 41 if he continues to play.
The Penguins are 8-1-1 in their last 10 games and will play the Sabres in back-to-back games Friday and Saturday.
— With AP
