PITTSBURGH — Evgeni Malkin will receive a proper sendoff.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have signed the franchise icon to a new contract that will keep him with the only NHL team he has known through the 2026-27 season. Malkin’s deal is for one year and carries a salary cap hit of $5.5 million, the team announced Tuesday.

The new contract includes a $3 million signing bonus and $2.5 million in salary, a league source said. Though that $5.5 million is guaranteed, the contract could be worth up to $9 million total through bonuses: $500,000 for hitting a games-played threshold, $1 million for qualifying for the playoffs and $500,000 for each round won. The contract also includes a full no-movement clause.

One year ago, team and league sources confirmed to The Athletic that Penguins president of hockey operations/general manager Kyle Dubas was not interested in bringing Malkin back to Pittsburgh. However, Malkin’s resurgence last season — 19 goals and 61 points in 56 games — persuaded Dubas to bring the veteran back.

The 2026-27 season will be Malkin’s 21st with the Penguins, exceeded only by Sidney Crosby, who will be playing in his 22nd campaign in Pittsburgh.

Malkin, who will be 40 on July 31, turned back the clock last season while shifting from center to right wing. He showed chemistry with 25-year-old forward Egor Chinakhov, a fellow Russian, as he helped guide the Penguins to the postseason for the first time since 2022.

Still, Pittsburgh hasn’t won a Stanley Cup playoff series since 2018.

Ultimately, Dubas decided that Malkin’s presence can still help the Penguins not only reach the postseason next spring but perhaps have success once there.

Malkin was not afraid to publicly discuss his contractual situation throughout last season, bringing it up several times and, at one point, forcing Dubas to acknowledge that Malkin going public was “his right.”

Dubas and Malkin’s representatives, led by agent J.P. Barry, spoke during the NHL’s Olympic break in February and again immediately following the season. Neither discussion led to a new contract, prompting plenty of speculation that Malkin had played his final game in Pittsburgh. The Magnitogorsk, Russia, native even admitted after the season that he wasn’t sure what the future held, and that he’d rather play for another NHL team before retiring.

That became a moot point, however, when Dubas and Barry finally agreed on a new deal.

The Penguins’ dressing room has long been in favor of Malkin returning for another season, with Crosby leading that charge. Malkin and Crosby have not only played together for two decades but are also close friends.

“I think everybody knows how I feel about Geno,” Crosby recently told The Athletic.

Malkin is widely regarded as one of the four greatest players in franchise history, his accomplishments and level of play placing him in a class with Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr and Crosby. In his 20 NHL seasons, Malkin has 533 goals and 1,407 points. He is a three-time Stanley Cup champion and won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in 2009, when the Penguins won the Stanley Cup in Detroit.

Malkin hasn’t always been durable and has twice endured reconstructive surgery because of a torn ACL. He’s almost always been productive, though, putting up a point per game or better in 16 of his 20 seasons.

And now, there will be a 21st season.

“You never know the way the game is going to work out and you never forget that it’s a business,” said Jordan Staal, who was Malkin’s left wing during their respective rookie seasons. “But, to be honest with you, I can’t really imagine Geno not being a member of the Penguins. It just wouldn’t feel right.”