How have the Penguins replaced defenseman Kris Letang so far?

As has been the case over the past decade and change, anytime one of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ superstars is absent, no one player ever truly replaces him.

Be it forwards Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin or, as is the case now, defenseman Kris Letang, the Penguins can’t fairly expect another player on their roster to simply fill the void created when any member of that remarkable triad is waylaid.

Figuratively, no one is going to replace Letang for however long he needs to recuperate from the stroke he suffered Nov. 28.

But literally, someone actually has to replace him.

To wit, the Penguins needed someone to serve as an alternate captain for the past three games since Letang fell ill. Defenseman Brian Dumoulin, as he has in the past, aptly wore the “A” on his jersey in the last three contests and will do so for the foreseeable future.

Furthermore, someone needs to work the point on the top power-play unit, a duty Letang usually inhabits. That responsibility has fallen on the shoulders of Jeff Petry, albeit with limited success.

Perhaps most elementally, someone needs to be in the lineup in place of Letang to give the Penguins a full complement of six defensemen and 20 players for every lineup. In this case, defenseman Chad Ruhwedel returned to the lineup Nov. 29 after being a healthy scratch for six consecutive games.

“It’s a collective effort,” Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson said. “He eats a lot of minutes. That’s a tough task for us to fill in for him. But when something like that happens, everybody rallies around. I don’t think it’s just our defensemen. Our forwards do a great job, too, in tracking back and defending (as a group of five). It’s tough, for sure. But I think, so far, we’ve rallied around Kris a little bit.”

With the exception of Dumoulin, almost all of the Penguins’ defensemen have seen a considerable jump in average ice time in the three games since Letang took ill. Petry, who also took over as the team’s top right-handed defenseman in place of Letang, has seen the biggest jump with an average of 3 minutes, 59 seconds per contest.

“For me, I’m just trying to play the same game that I have been,” Petry said. “Obviously, a few more minutes the last couple of games. It’s not one guy that’s stepping up. Our whole defense corps, obviously, has to step up because he plays a big role.”

Perhaps none of Letang’s teammates has been impacted by his absence more than Ruhwedel simply because he’s back in the lineup. Through the team’s first 25 games this season, Ruhwedel has been a healthy scratch for 16 of them.

He professes he will offer the same reliable but unspectacular game he typically provides.

“Just being sound defensively,” Ruhwedel said. “Getting out of our end and trying to eat up some of those minutes that he takes.”

As the cliche goes, everyone has to step up.

At the same time, the Penguins’ six remaining defensemen can’t take too big of a step.

That’s to say, they can’t play beyond their capacities in trying to replace a player none of them can replace.

“There’s no point in trying to be the hero there and try to save the world,” rookie defenseman P.O Joseph said. “We’ve just got to stay to our abilities.”

Letang still leads the team’s non-goaltenders in average ice time at 23:54.

“There is probably 26 minutes of ice time to cover,” defenseman Jan Rutta said, generously. “He’s a huge part of our team. We miss him. But, so far, we’ve done a pretty good job of playing without him.”