"It was hard," a glib Kris Letang was saying Monday morning at his locker stall, speaking of his long road to recovery from an offseason neck surgery.
The injury not only sidelined him for all of last spring's playoff run, but also plagued his play through the first three months of this season.
It was much harder than even he expected.
And keep in mind that the 30-year-old is one of the most finely-conditioned athletes in the NHL, a defenseman for whom playing 30 minutes simply comes with the job description. But no previous injury or ailment -- a list which includes migraines, concussions and even a stroke -- prepared him for the adversity that he'd have to overcome from his surgery last April.
For starters, Letang went eight months without skating, only taking to the ice a week before reporting to training camp. In hindsight, Letang said he should have seen his early season struggles coming.
"I had a lot of catching up to do and the bad thing was that it was during the season," he said.
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