Malkin says contract negotiations with Penguins will continue in summer
Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin continues to turn back the clock, and it looks like his phenomenal season may keep him around with the Penguins longer than previously anticipated.
Prior to the season, Josh Yohe of The Athletic reported that this year would be Malkin’s last in Pittsburgh, as the team would not offer him another contract extension upon the expiry of his current deal.
Now, as Malkin has 50 points in 47 games and the Penguins look like a legitimate playoff team, it appears that may not be the case after all.
“We talked probably two weeks ago,” Malkin told Yohe of he and team president Kyle Dubas after Monday’s game. “He told me we would talk this summer. I’m OK with that… I want to just play. He asked if I wanted to play next year. I said yes.”
In his first game back from a five-game suspension, Malkin dazzled with a pair of goals as Pittsburgh took it to the league-leading Colorado Avalanche in a 7-2 win.
It was vintage Malkin, as he got the scoring started with a backhand spin-o-rama goal and struck again later in the first period to make it 3-1 before adding a primary assist on a power play goal late in the second to finish with three points.
WHAT A GOAL BY EVGENI MALKIN 😳
After putting up 50 points in 67 games a season ago, Malkin has already matched last year’s total in 20 fewer contests. He, like the rest of the Penguins, appears completely invigorated, and adding countryman winger Egor Chinakhov in a mid-season trade has helped sustain his momentum.
Malkin’s return from suspension comes at a great time for the Pens, who are navigating a brutal portion of their schedule without captain Sidney Crosby, who remains sidelined with the MCL injury he sustained at the Olympics.
Pittsburgh is two points ahead of the New York Islanders for second place in the Metropolitan Division, but three of their next four games are against the division-leading Carolina Hurricanes and a rematch with Colorado.