{"id":397247,"date":"2026-01-09T00:45:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T00:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/397247\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T00:45:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T00:45:07","slug":"malkin-feels-so-much-better-could-return-for-penguins-on-thursday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/397247\/","title":{"rendered":"Malkin feels \u2018so much better,\u2019 could return for Penguins on Thursday"},"content":{"rendered":"

CRANBERRY, Pa. — Evgeni Malkin<\/a> hasn\u2019t publicly labeled this his last hurrah with the Pittsburgh Penguins, but the 39-year-old is producing enough to entertain the thought of a 21st NHL season.<\/p>\n

Malkin, who is in the last of a four-year, $24.4 million contract ($6.1 million average annual value) signed July 12, 2022, has 29 points (eight goals, 21 assists) in 26 games. He\u2019s missed the past 15 games with an upper-body injury, though, and the second-line center would do just about anything to get back for the Penguins (20-12-9), who have won five in a row and six of their past seven games.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can move to defense, goalie, if the coach wants it,\u201d Malkin said after practice on Tuesday. \u201cI don\u2019t care. I just want to play, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n

Malkin took full contact at practice for the first time since his upper-body injury. He could return against the New Jersey Devils at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; SN-PIT, MSGSN).<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best feeling,\u201d Malkin said of practicing. \u201cYou have more fun. When you skate alone, it\u2019s not great. But [it was] a good day for me. I mean, tough, a little bit, but again, I\u2019m happy to be back with the team [and] enjoy those guys. One more practice tomorrow and, like, I hope [to return] this week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Malkin took his last shift with 3:07 remaining in the third period of a 4-3 win at the Tampa Bay Lightning on Dec. 4, when he had two goals and an assist.<\/p>\n

He hasn\u2019t played since.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s, like, crazy because I\u2019m not feeling any pain after the game,\u201d Malkin said. \u201cBut the next morning I wake up and, like, my upper body, it\u2019s like I can\u2019t move my shoulder. It\u2019s crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Malkin was originally considered day to day, but the recovery timeline quickly elevated to week to week.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel day by day and, like, I\u2019m back,\u201d Malkin said. \u201cBut I can\u2019t move my arm. It\u2019s a little bit tough. Again, I do my best; I work out, recover every day. But it\u2019s not easy. It\u2019s like a weird injury. Not, like, crazy — it\u2019s small things, but it\u2019s annoying.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day is like pain. The last couple weeks, I do lots of stuff. The last, probably, three or four days, I feel so much better. I hope, again, [to be] back this week.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the time of the injury, Malkin was tied for the Penguins lead in points with Sidney Crosby<\/a> (29 points; 18 goals, 11 assists). Without him, Pittsburgh immediately lost eight straight (0-4-4) from Dec. 7-20.<\/p>\n

Crosby now has 47 points (24 goals, 23 assists) in 41 games and has led a recent rebound with 12 points (five goals, seven assists) on a seven-game point streak. Pittsburgh has outscored its opponents 25-12 during its win streak, leaving Malkin to believe it can return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs after missing the previous three seasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tell you before, we have a great team, great guys here,\u201d Malkin said. \u201cWe have a tough, like, seven, eight games before, but now we\u2019re back. It\u2019s a little bit up-and-down right now, but right now, last couple games, guys play amazing. … When we play right, when we play smart, we can beat any team. We showed [that the] last five games. We play amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Malkin, when available, is significant; he is third all-time in Penguins history behind Crosby (1,734) and Mario Lemieux<\/a> (1,723) with 1,375 points (522 goals, 853 assists) in 1,239 games. So, he hopes it doesn\u2019t take long to regain his form.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you lost any games, you lost confidence a little bit,\u201d Malkin said. \u201cIt\u2019s always nervous [being] back; if you miss over 10 games, it\u2019s probably like your confidence is not great. But I feel great. My body, I work out every day. My legs feel great. I need to play a couple shifts and I think I will be fine. We have a great team. My linemates, teammates support me so much.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need to play a little bit and you have your confidence back, for sure. It\u2019s not my first time back from an injury. I\u2019ve played here like 20 years. I know what it\u2019s like feeling [that]. It\u2019s just my body. I want to wake up tomorrow and feel great. And my confidence [will be] back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dan Muse, in his first season as Penguins coach, has seen enough to trust Malkin.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s such a competitor, even today in practice,\u201d Muse said. \u201cHe loves to play. He loves to compete. You kind of see how he got to the point that he\u2019s been doing this for so long.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been putting in a lot of work here, too, just working to get back. The start for him, what he\u2019s done on the ice this year, has been great. It\u2019s been impressive.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Malkin picking up where he left off is what\u2019s best.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing\u2019s changed, you know?\u201d Malkin said. \u201cYou see we fight, like, every game to the playoffs. Every team is close. We know it\u2019s, what, 40-plus games left? Just play all of them and, yeah, we have a long break, Olympic break. Be smart, recover your body, still [be] working.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd after February, it\u2019s [a] big run for us, for sure. Because this year, every team has a chance to make the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CRANBERRY, Pa. — Evgeni Malkin hasn\u2019t publicly labeled this his last hurrah with the Pittsburgh Penguins, but the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":397248,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-397247","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397247","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=397247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/397248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=397247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=397247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=397247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}