PITTSBURGH, Pa. – Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Ray Shero has given Kris Letang the go-ahead to return to action, saying hockey is no more likely than shopping to give the defenceman another stroke.

Letang, a native of Montreal, has missed 26 games since suffering a stroke Jan. 29. Shero said doctors told Letang that hockey did not cause the stroke and won’t make him more likely to have another.

Letang is set to play Wednesday night against the Detroit Red Wings.

“We have assurances and he has assurances that hockey did not cause the stroke. Return to play will not cause the stroke,” Shero said Wednesday morning at Consol Energy Center. “To return to play ice hockey, he’s at no further risk to suffer a stroke than he would be going to the grocery store.”

The 26-year-old defenceman has been medically cleared for almost three weeks but Shero has been cautious about Letang returning too early, continually asking him to wait to see how he felt.

A conversation Tuesday opened the door.

“There’s really no reason for me to hold him out any longer, in terms of all the information we have from all the doctors and from Kris on how he’s felt,” Shero said. “I guess today’s the day.”

As nervous as Shero told Letang he would be, the Norris Trophy finalist said he had nothing to fear.

“I have to adjust to it and feel 100 per cent ready for it,” Letang said. “I’m not scared to go out there and play. I just feel comfortable right now.”

Coach Dan Bylsma said Letang will be paired with veteran Rob Scuderi, who missed time earlier this season with a broken ankle.

Scuderi isn’t concerned with Letang having to ease back in after being out for so long.

“Kris is one of those guys that could take a year off and step on the ice and just look amazing, because he’s just got such a unique skill-set,” Scuderi said. “He’s an incredibly smooth skater, he’s got a great shot. Everything thing he does looks easy.”

Letang has 10 goals and eight assists in 34 games this season.

The Penguins have already clinched the Metropolitan Division and will be the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Asked how Letang’s return will affect a Pittsburgh team that has dealt with injuries all season and will be without star forward Evgeni Malkin until the start of the playoffs, Shero didn’t want to get too far ahead of himself.

“We’ll just see,” he said. “We do know that a healthy Kris Letang is certainly a huge part of our hockey team and makes us better. … We’ll just wait and see.

“Kris has been through something that’s really a traumatic event, and just to be in this position to come back and play hockey again is certainly great news.”

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