3 Penguins, including Kris Letang, undergo postseason surgeries

Three Pittsburgh Penguins players — defensemen Kris Letang and John Ludvig, plus forward Matt Nieto — underwent offseason surgeries recently, president of hockey operations/general manager Kyle Dubas announced Wednesday.

Letang had a fractured finger on his left hand repaired Friday, with an expected recovery time of eight weeks.

On April 24, Ludvig had an extensor tendon in his left wrist repaired.

He is expected to recover in four to six months.

Nieto underwent reconstructive MCL surgery to his left knee May 2, with a recovery time of six to eight months.

Kris Letang, John Ludvig, and Matt Nieto recently underwent successful surgeries, it was announced today by President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Kyle Dubas.

 

 

 

Letang, who turned 37 on April 24, played in all 82 regular-season games this season for only the second time in his career.

However, the Penguins were careful with him toward the end of the season, with Letang receiving several maintenance days to manage his practice workload.

“(Letang) was dealing with a myriad of injuries for a long time,” coach Mike Sullivan said during the club’s postseason locker cleanout media availability. “He’s a warrior — there’s no other way to put it — with some of the things he was dealing with down the stretch and continuing to play through to try to help us get to where we wanted to go.”

Letang contributed 10 goals and 41 assists.

He is in the second season of a six-year, $36.6 million contract worth $6.1 million annually signed in summer 2022.

The 23-year-old Ludvig turned out to be a solid scoop off the waiver wire in October, when he was jettisoned by the Florida Panthers.

Ludvig offered the Penguins a rare physical presence on the blue line, factoring on the club’s third line when healthy.

Staying at full health proved to be a challenge for Ludvig, who made his NHL debut with the Penguins on Oct. 24, 2023, and played 33 games, scoring three goals with two assists.

He navigated through several stints on the injured list, including a concussion sustained in his first NHL game Oct. 24.

At the end of the season, Ludvig was sidelined because of illness.

Ludvig is signed through 2024-25 with a salary cap hit of $775,000.

Up and down the Penguins roster, Nieto seemed to suffer the worst luck with regards to injury.

He last appeared for the Penguins on Nov. 30 before being knocked out of the lineup because of a right knee injury, for which he underwent laparoscopic surgery in January.

Rehabilitation proved unsuccessful, keeping him from the ice for the remainder of the year.

“Matt Nieto, I don’t know if I’ve ever felt as bad for somebody throughout the year just in terms of the amount of work he put in, and every time he would put the work in, he would have a setback,” Dubas said at the end of the season.

Now Nieto is looking at another lengthy recovery post-surgery to his left knee.

He had scored one goal with three assists in 22 games before his right knee injury ultimately proved season-ending.

Nieto, 31, is under contract through next season at $900,000 annually.