A couple months removed from his 32nd birthday, no one would fault Evgeni Malkin for taking a slight step back at this stage in his career.
The Russian phenom has given everything he’s had to Pittsburgh for 12 seasons, amassing three Stanley Cups, two scoring titles, and a trio of MVP nods split between the regular and post-season. But heading into his 13th campaign, the Penguins veteran says he has no intention of fading into the background as a new crop of marquee talents take centre stage.
“It’s the young guys like (Connor) McDavid, (Taylor) Hall, (Nathan) MacKinnon — they try to show their best game, and they dominate this league right now,” Malkin told reporters following a training camp practice Sunday. “But I don’t want to be a guy who wins three Cups and stops playing, just [known as] a nice guy. I want to be a good player for the next five years, next six years. I try to do my best, try to dominate every game.
“I want to be a top centre in this league for the next five, six years, for sure.”
His 2017-18 effort suggests that goal isn’t so far-fetched.
Coming off four years of watching his regular seasons limited by injury, and his point production capped in the 70s, Malkin broke through with a dominant 42-goal, 98-point effort in 2017-18 — his third-highest annual goal total and fourth-highest point total.
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The return to form was also good enough to vault the 2004 second-overall pick back into the league’s elite — both totals ranked fourth-highest league-wide — and into the No. 3 spot on our 2018-19 Top 100 rankings.
That’s a good sign for the Penguins faithful, who hope their club still has some more championships under its belt before the Steel City’s starring duo calls it a career.
“I hope a couple more. We try every year,” Malkin said. “Sid’s an unbelievable player — he’s won everything. I look to him every day, and he’s still hungry. He works hard every day, he’s our [leader]. I’m trying to be the same, show my best level.”
As Pittsburgh came up short in its three-peat bid, Malkin watched fellow countryman Alex Ovechkin finally break through and claim his first Stanley Cup ring — a long-awaited role reversal after Washington bowed out to the eventual champion Penguins in each of the two years prior. Pittsburgh’s alternate captain said, though he was happy to hear his good friend finally climbed that championship summit, he didn’t watch the moment himself.
“I’m glad finally Washington won. They have great team, for sure,” Malkin said of his longtime rival. “Of course, I’m upset, you know. I feel like if we had beat Washington, we have a chance to win [the Cup]. I always think about it this way. But it doesn’t matter who plays in the Final, Washington or Tampa, I never watch. … Last year or five years ago, it doesn’t matter. It’s not fun to watch.”
Nor was it likely a treat to battle through the grind of the post-season on a faulty knee. The big-bodied centreman said he had significant pain in his knee throughout last year’s playoff run, barring him from pushing off with his right leg and skating at his usual level.
A few weeks of rehab after the conclusion of the season, and a summer with a heavier focus on skating, has him feeling healthy heading into 2018-19, however.
How exactly the lineup around him shakes out remains a question mark. But all eyes are sure to be on the potential combination of him and star winger Phil Kessel, after reports surfaced early in the summer about the American sniper’s discontent with his lack of minutes on Malkin’s wing.
For his part, No. 71 said he’d enjoy suiting up with Kessel, though some adjustment is needed if the two are to play together regularly.
“I like playing with him, for sure. I think we understand each other,” Malkin said. “We need to just change little bit — in the D-zone, we need to play better. I think coach is little bit upset when we play together — he understands we’re great offensive players but sometimes we need to play better D-zone, for sure. … I feel I can play with anybody, but I like playing with Phil.”
