Earlier today Evgeni Malkin addressed his pending unrestricted free agency and future with the Pittsburgh Penguins, stating that he hopes to retire in Pittsburgh. For that to be possible, he must ink a contract extension with the only team he has ever known. Malkin, 35, has remained consistently productive as he has aged (42 points in 41 games this season) but has also struggled to remain in the lineup on a regular basis. So, his importance to the franchise and his strong production square up against the declining reliability of his health to make his upcoming contract situation an especially intriguing one.
Just as Malkin’s contract is expiring, so is the contract of another Penguins franchise icon: Kris Letang. Letang, who is also 35, is coming off a season where he posted a career-high in points (68) and managed to stay in the lineup for 78 games, his most since the 2017-18 season. With Malkin and Letang both up for new contracts, the Penguins’ front office (and new ownership group) has a fork-in-the-road opportunity to change the direction of the franchise.
Rob Rossi of The Athletic reported yesterday that the Penguins had offered Malkin and Letang matching three-year, $15MM extensions, offers that “did not sit well” with Sidney Crosby. While that is certainly a major development, if true, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet added some context to the situation in his recent 32 Thoughts blog. Friedman supported Rossi’s reporting on the Penguins offering Malkin a three-year term on his extension, stating that the team has symmetry with the three years left on Sidney Crosby’s contract in mind. He also reported that Malkin’s camp and the Penguins were “far, far apart” on the actual dollar value of the extension, a separation that could make Malkin’s return more challenging.
As for Letang, Friedman reported that his offer was larger than the one mentioned in Rossi’s report. Friedman says that the “last he heard” was that Letang was offered a four-year contract carrying an average annual value just “a bit less” than his current AAV of $7.25MM. Given the annual values of contracts other high-end defensemen have received (Seth Jones, Darnell Nurse, and Dougie Hamilton, as comparables, got at least $9MM AAV on deals with significantly more term) it’s an open question as to whether that reported offer will be sufficient to retain Letang’s services.
Letang did say, per Mike DeFabo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, that his “main goal” is to stay in Pittsburgh, so perhaps he will not enter the market eyeing a deal comparable to those other elite defensemen. But one does have to keep in mind that this very well could be Letang’s last chance at a massive contract, due to his age. At the very least, it seems from Friedman’s reporting that while the Penguins are apparently undertaking an earnest effort to retain their two franchise legends, there are still obstacles in the way.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Not many beat writers more useless than Rob Rossi. General statement.
But, who knows what this Fenway group is up to…
If the Pens let 71 and/or 58 walk, the only options will be to spend big money on lesser player or to be lousy during Sid’s final years.
Paying our still highly effective franchise legends makes more sense.
absolutely. from some who has hated the pens since ulf never like to see franchise stars in another sweater
Get used to it Penguins fans. The fenway group is low balling it’s baseball players with expiring contracts too. They just don’t want to spend on big money players anymore.
if either wants 10+ then pens are better off going younger ie: Rust resigning or pry away Filip Forsberg
I do think vet GK specifically Fleury is very important this off-season, but he could end up signing a cheap 1 year reunion deal
Paying Letang and Malkin 16 million a year for 3 years is a sure fire way of trying to squeeze water from a stone.
Letang is guaranteed less output next year. Malkin is one injury away from a half season. Eventually you have to come to terms with it. Don’t try to hold onto the past
Agreed. The problem with signing Malkin is this: he’s played exactly ONE full season in a decade. He’s *guaranteed* at this point to miss 20 games or more, and in the GM’s shoes, I’m just not going to shell out superstar money for a guy playing 40 games. Either Geno takes a much more modest base salary loaded down with performance bonuses, or I’d let him walk.
With Letang, hmm. Obviously he’s still playing at an elite level. But he’s also at an age where players, well, get old, and he’s likewise got a long history of being brittle. Three years at $5 isn’t a terrible offer for him, but I’d suggest to him that if he wants to get paid like an All-Star, it’s going to have to go year-to-year.
So, you don’t think Letang will have ANOTHER career year next year, too?
Put him into a hospice now, I guess.
The real questions is do you really believe that Letang is going to put up ANOTHER career year at age 36? If you believe he is going to continue getting better every year, give him max term at superstar money and let me know how it works out for you.
I align with Nha Trangs opinion, obviously.
Who said anything about MAX term at “superstar” money?
If you ONLY want to look at a calendar instead of his play on the ice…more power to you. If you want to ignore his fitness level or that he finally cleaned up his mental mistakes and had (by far) his best year ever with zero sign of drop off for his birth certificate, that is one way to evaluate. A simple way.
Go for it.
I agree Letang is unique and will be missed, but have you seen Erik Karlsson’s contract?
Letangs getting 5 years 9+
Well it’s been 4 years with them not winning a playoff series, it’s time to get younger and try to manage the decent to mediocracy, until they can restock or reload
I mean are they really missing that much if thru bring back Rust and replace Tanger with 2 decent Ds on short term deals
I actually think the team would be in better shape and be able to fill all their holes with guys in the 3 mil range
I agree that everything went downhill once we brought on Queen Lebron. But if anyone thinks Letang is worth money because of his defensive skills then they haven’t watched him play the past few seasons. He’s slow, soft, and costs us goals every game because of his lack of fundamental positioning. But his offensive upside and ice time minutes are good. Why we didn’t trade him and Evan “shoot the puck everytime I get it” Rodriguez for a younger, stronger, much better defenseman who won’t make Dumalin play both left and right defense to cover gaps while his D partner is off slashing or hooking someone behind the net and way out of position is beyond me. Keep Rust and Geno because they are solid game changing forwards. Let Letang walk and turn into the next PK with no career and left to wash up somewhere. Bring in a couple strong power forwards with size who can drop the mitts and protect your stars. And the team will win again. Blueger can’t always be our only tough guy on the team.