Pittsburgh (93.7 The Fan) - Not knowing when--or if--the NHL season will resume, Penguins defenseman Kris Letang is treating this indefinite pause in the schedule as his off-season.
"You have to treat this period as your rest (time)," Letang said Tuesday. "It's my summer break right now, so that when I come back I'm fully rested."
It's been a month since the Penguins last played.
"We all miss hockey," Letang said. "It's a tough situation for everybody, but (the pandemic) is more important than hockey, and I pray for everybody to be safe and healthy. Everybody knows that hockey is what I love to do, but there's more than hockey in this situation. To be with my family and make sure they're safe is most important. It actually puts everything in perspective. I kind of blocked the will of playing hockey right now and just try to worry about what people are actually going through and what the real difficulties are."
"Everybody is going to be on the same level," Letang said. "What's hard is we don't have access to gyms or a place to skate. You're really left with what you have at your house. Obviously, (the NHL) wants to play some games to try to promote the game on tv and get people to watch something on tv."
Letang believes it will take at least three weeks of practicing and playing to get up to speed, and that doesn't include indoor hockey with his 7 year old son Alex.
"I think my back is taking a beating right now because I'm always bent over. I'm trying to keep my skill up, but there's nothing like the real thing."