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Kris Letang taken to hospital after Shane Doan hit (Video)

Kris Letang taken to hospital after Shane Doan hit (Video)

Penguins defenseman Kris Letang was taken to the hospital after a collision with Shane Doan in Pittsburgh’s Saturday game against the Arizona Coyotes. This came after the below late hit by Arizona forward Shane Doan in a 3-2 Pittsburgh win.

The video:

Said Penguins defenseman Ian Cole to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s Josh Yohe in the locker room after the game.

"Doan was running around like an idiot today."

Letang has a history of concussions and also has come back from a stroke. The look on his face after the play was just scary. And Doan ... what's the point of finishing that check? He didn't have the puck, and it was clear and obvious that he didn't. He was not given a penalty on the play.

Doan is one of those players who ‘plays the game hard’ but really has had some moments where he has made some dirty plays in his career. Though he often expresses a great amount of remorse afterwards as he did Saturday.

Said Doan to the Arizona Republic’s Sarah McLellan:

"That’s awful. When it happened, I could tell the way he went into the boards was awkward."

"I just went to make sure I got a piece of him so he couldn't jump by me. ... We have to finish our check on him."

"You never ever want to see anybody like that, especially a guy of his caliber and obviously everything he's went through."

Still, rules are rules. The hit was late. It was forceful, and it was unnecessary. Is this Department of Player Safety worthy … sure seems so.

According to TSN's Bob McKenzie, Letang will stay overnight at the hospital for observation. Between Olli Maatta (out for the season with shoulder surgery following thyroid cancer), Christan Ehrhoff (upper body injury) and now Letang, the Pens are looking thin on the blueline. But again, most importantly in this situation is Letang's health, just because that looked pretty scary.

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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