Letang on his brief KHL jaunt: “It was a good experience”

Penguins defenseman Kris Letang sure seemed to have funny timing. When he signed his deal to play in the KHL it turned out to be just two days before the NHL and the players reached an agreement to end the lockout.

As he tells Josh Yohe of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, getting to go to Russia to just see how they did things was fun enough for him.

“The (KHL) deal was done a long time ago. It was just a question of timing,” Letang said. “Even if the lockout was closer to an end, they asked me to come anyways and to check out the facility and the way they were managing the team. It was a good experience.”

That question of timing turned out to be rather poorly answered when it was all said and done as Letang didn’t play a game for SKA St. Petersburg. The Penguins will need to have a fully healthy and focused Letang along the blue line for the shortened season. Hopefully his Russian “experience” didn’t hinder his training during the lockout.