Turns out Evgeni Malkin isn’t heading to market after all. After going back and forth for months, the Pittsburgh Penguins and their Russian superstar have come to an agreement just 12 hours before he was set to hit the open market. Malkin has signed a four-year extension that will pay him $24.4MM ($6.1MM AAV).
General manager Ron Hextall released the following statement:
Evgeni is a generational talent who will be remembered as one of the greatest players in NHL history. His hockey resume and individual accomplishments speak volumes about him as a player, and we are thrilled to watch him continue his remarkable legacy in Pittsburgh.
Malkin, 35, will now be under contract through the 2025-26 season, one year longer than teammate Sidney Crosby (but two years shorter than the recently-extended Kris Letang, who now carries the same cap hit). Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic reports the full details of the contract:
- 2022-23: $4.0MM salary + $4.0MM signing bonus
- 2023-24: $6.0MM salary
- 2024-25: $5.6MM salary
- 2025-26: $1.0MM salary + $3.8MM signing bonus
The deal also includes a full no-movement clause throughout, though trade speculation will likely never stop, as it has followed Malkin through most of his career.
What a career it has been. The second-overall pick from 2004 stepped into the NHL in 2006 as an instant superstar, winning the Calder Trophy in a landslide over Paul Stastny (Malkin received 120 of the 143 first-place votes) and scoring 85 points in 78 games. By year two, he was already the Hart Trophy runner-up and by year three he was taking home the Art Ross as the league’s most productive player. He also happened to take home the Conn Smythe that year, as the Malkin and the Crosby-led Penguins lifted the Stanley Cup for the first time. They would do it twice more with that dynamic duo in place, and now look to try it again while they are still effective.
It has never been Malkin’s effectiveness that is questioned, only his consistency and health. The big center has only played 70 games in a season once over the last decade, usually missing significant stretches due to injury. This season he played in just 41 games, though he still managed to score at a better than point-per-game pace, registering 20 goals and 42 points.
The negotiation, obviously stressful on both sides, has resulted in a deal that seems more than reasonable. The Penguins get to have Malkin back for a cap hit quite a bit lower than the $9.5MM he had been carrying since 2014, while the veteran forward gets the security of a four-year deal to play out his career in Pittsburgh.
Now the question of whether Malkin, Crosby, and Letang are still good enough to lead this team to the promised land will be asked–or whether all this contract confirms is that they will each be Penguins for life.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Big hometown discount, but it’d have made better sense to have a lower base salary loaded with performance bonuses.
Lol, where the Red Wings were a few years back. Keep hanging on but wont ever get out of 1st round. Ken Holland have a cousin in Pittsburgh.
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I get it. most pens fans will be happy because they kept the boys together and that’s fine. in 2 years, they will be hating their situation with all this money on the cap being paid to 2 guys on downside of careers (Malkin more than Letang but the drop off for both could come at any time).
Exactly.
If they didn’t sign these deals, two years from now after they (insert Underpants Gnomes logic) the Pens would have been hoisting the Cup in 2024 led by their new superstar, Insert Namehere.
Stupid Hextall.
Pens fans would have been much happier losing all of their star players and being bad right now.
it depends.. the AAV on these deals is 6.1
both players could’ve reached 9.5+ AAV on thr open market
is paying veteran role players like veteran role players bad?
these aren’t Erik Karlsson or Brent Burns type contracts, they’re actually pretty fair deals for the team to go add a big name target next off-season when some other guys come off the books
You think Malkin would get $9.5M? That’s insane.
Glad to see Geno calmed the F down and didn’t Freddie Freeman himself. The offer didn’t move. It was fair.
I’m a happy (and spoiled, as usual) Pens fan today.
Cool.
Pens NEEDS at this point…a middle six LW to play on whichever line Zucker does not.
Pens WANTS at this point…move Zucker, move one of Dumo or Pettersson….add two LW, one D (hopefully with some grit) and extend Jarry.
Great offseason by Hextall so far, keep it up.
Also, FYI….Evander Kane resigns with EDM for 4 years at just over $5 M AAV.
Waste of money. Hextall had a good offseason up until this point. Now he literally has no money left to be a player in free agency. Have fun filling the bottom 6 with more scrubs who don’t score, and before u even say it no one is trading for Zucker even if u do something stupid and attach a first round pick to him.
The AARPenguins lol.
The party after they win the Senior League is gonna be lit!
now there are 2 cry babies on the Pens. LOL !!
Gavin – there has been virtually zero trade speculation surrounding Geno ever.
Largely true…with one giant asterisk.
“Malkin to the Kings” became a running joke for a reason.
The boys are back in town, sure, but damn this is gonna be a tricky money situation. Pittsburgh can only run it back with that core for so long.
Malkin’s camp blinked first. Alot of money for an old guy, And I don’t see this move as getting Pittsburgh any closer to another cup. I would have spread the money out and fill In the gaps elsewhere.