'There's always an end to an era': Letang chasing 4th Cup in Pittsburgh

With three Stanley Cup championships, six All-Star appearances, and 863 NHL games under his belt (plus a whopping 142 playoff contests), Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Kris Letang has pretty much seen and done it all.

Well, not quite. There's still one more thing the 34-year-old covets.

"Four," Letang said, according to Mike DeFabo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, referring to the Stanley Cup.

"It doesn't matter how many years I'm going to keep doing this," he added. "I just want to do it for one reason - that's to win every year."

Entering the final year of an eight-year deal that carries an average annual value of $7.25 million, Letang's feeling confident in a 2021-22 Pittsburgh team that held on to much of its core.

"I feel comfortable saying we have what we need to be successful, whether on the coaching staff or player-wise," Letang said. "We have the group to do it."

The right-handed shot has spent his NHL career with "brothers" Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby and "of course" he'd certainly like to keep it that way.

"You hear about those guys who decide to go with another team trying to look for another Cup or bigger salaries," Letang said. "The thing we built in Pittsburgh with Sid and Geno, I think it's special. Obviously, there's always an end to an era. I cannot predict when it's going to be done."

For now, things are looking good for the Penguins; Pittsburgh has made the playoffs in 15 straight seasons and finished at the top of the realigned East Division in 2020-21. However, the squad hasn't advanced past the second round of the postseason since winning the Cup in 2016-17.

“At the end of the day, guys who have been together for 15-20 years - whatever it ends up being - is going to be on the small scale of the longevity of a franchise. You have to think about all the other years and you want to keep winning," Letang said.