{"id":157021,"date":"2025-09-20T12:29:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-20T12:29:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/157021\/"},"modified":"2025-09-20T12:29:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T12:29:14","slug":"latest-on-evgeni-malkins-future-with-penguins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/157021\/","title":{"rendered":"Latest On Evgeni Malkin&#8217;s Future With Penguins"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Although much has been made of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/c\/crosbsi01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.prohockeyrumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-09-19_hr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Sidney Crosby<\/a>\u2019s future with the Pittsburgh Penguins over the last few weeks, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/m\/malkiev01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.prohockeyrumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-09-19_hr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Evgeni Malkin<\/a> remains the most pressing issue. The 19-year veteran is entering the final year of his four-year, $24.4MM contract with the Penguins, and has made few indications regarding the next chapter of his playing career.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking with reporters this morning, Malkin appeared to hedge his bets when it comes to his staying in Pittsburgh. He originally stated a desire to play an additional year with the Penguins beyond the 2025-26 season. Still, he wants to finish his career in Pittsburgh regardless (<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/mattvensel\/status\/1969044682572202455\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">via Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>However, when pressed about his no-movement clause, Malkin pointed to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/m\/marchbr03.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.prohockeyrumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-09-19_hr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Brad Marchand<\/a>\u2019s example from last year, when he used his modified no-trade clause to join the Florida Panthers and win the second Stanley Cup of his career. <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/OtherNHLCrosby\/status\/1969051099714695550\" rel=\"nofollow\">Per NHL correspondent Wes Crosby<\/a>, Malkin said, \u201cIt\u2019s hard, you know? But again, we see a story, like, with Brad Marchand. Looking good, you know? But again, if the team trades you and you (don\u2019t) win the Cup, it\u2019s like a little bit weird, too, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>By acknowledging his desire to stay with Pittsburgh beyond the 2025-26 campaign, Malkin has put the ball back in <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eliteprospects.com\/staff\/6227\/kyle-dubas\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Kyle Dubas<\/a>\u2019s court. In June, two <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.prohockeyrumors.com\/2025\/06\/metro-notes-ehlers-malkin-allen-bridgeport.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">reports<\/a> from Josh Yohe of The Athletic and the Penguins\u2019 own Josh Getzoff indicated that the team has little desire to offer Malkin a new contract, regardless of his play in the upcoming season.<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/cdn.prohockeyrumors.com\/files\/2025\/05\/USATSI_25933110-scaled.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-233839 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/USATSI_25933110-236x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"236\" height=\"300\"  \/><\/a>Those reports led many to believe that Malkin and his representation would begin looking at different options (likely around the Olympic break) or retire next summer. Unlike Marchand, Malkin\u2019s no-movement clause means he\u2019ll have full control over whether Pittsburgh trades him by this year\u2019s trade deadline.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless, Malkin would immediately become one of the best center options available at the deadline, with plenty of competitive teams having a glaring hole on the second line. Despite the team missing the postseason the past three years, Malkin has remained productive, recording 70 goals and 200 points in 232 games, averaging 18:21 of ice time.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, Malkin has been a quality scorer in the playoffs, even though the Penguins haven\u2019t reached beyond the second round since their most recent Stanley Cup championship in 2017. From 2018 to 2022, Malkin scored nine goals and 23 points in 28 playoff games.<\/p>\n<p>The expectation is that the situation will play out over the regular season. Given the state of the roster, there\u2019s little reason to keep Malkin this season or next. Still, much like Crosby, Pittsburgh\u2019s top brass has typically honored the wishes of its franchise icons.<\/p>\n<p>Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Although much has been made of Sidney Crosby\u2019s future with the Pittsburgh Penguins over the last few weeks,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":157022,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[28289,43,44,4247,753,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-157021","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-evgeni-malkin","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-newsstand","12":"tag-pittsburgh-penguins","13":"tag-top-news","14":"tag-top-stories","15":"tag-topnews","16":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157021\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}