Letang’s status unclear for the start of regular season

Norris Trophy candidate Kris Letang could be sidelined for the start of the regular season.

Letang came down with an injury in Friday’s practice.

“I don’t really have any indication of whether that’s a short-term or extended injury or what the extent to that would be,” head coach Dan Bylsma said Saturday. “We’re going to wait to see when we get back to Pittsburgh.”

Letang remains with the team in West Point and is not heading back early to be evaluated. The Penguins wrapup their West Point trip later today.

The early buzz I’m getting on Letang’s injury is the team feels he could be dealing with a knee strain that at the longest could knock him out for a few weeks not months. It doesn’t sound like Letang has a serious injury at this point but he could miss some time.

The Penguins open the season Thursday night at home against the New Jersey Devils.

If it’s determined Letang would miss up to three weeks, the team will strongly consider placing him on LTIR, where he has to miss a max of 10 games or 24 days.

The Penguins plan has been to start the year with a top-3 pairings of Brooks Orpik – Paul Martin, Rob Scuderi – Kris Letang, Matt Niskanen – Robert Bortuzzo with Deryk Engelland as the No. 7 defenseman.

It’s a group the Penguins feel is the deepest it’s ever been in the Ray Shero era.