Kris Letang to miss playoffs, out for the season, reinforcements on the way

by Adam Jona | Penguins Correspondent | Thu, Apr 6th 8:15am EDT

The heavy news came on Wednesday as the Penguins announced that their all-star defenseman suffered a huge injury-setback. Letang will miss 4-6 months after he undergoes surgery to repair a herniated disc in his neck. "Right now it's pretty hard to swallow," Letang told the media. "It was not expected. I was going through rehab and it was going really well. In the last week it blew up on me. It's hard." The Pens will now have to fill Letang's 27-plus quality minutes of ice time per night. Not an easy task. Good news is fellow defenseman Trevor Daley seems ready to go. "That is kind of what I looked at with the schedule and making sure I was healthy," Daley said. "These next three would be nice. I may not get all three, but obviously the more I can get the better." Defenseman Olli Maatta was another player who made a return to practice today in a yellow 'no contact' jersey. Maatta is day-to-day and hopes to get at least a game under his belt before playoffs. (nhl.com/penguins)

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