for another NHL team<\/a>.<\/p>\nThough he\u2019s always maintained that playing in Pittsburgh is his preference, Malkin said he would play for another team before retiring or playing in the KHL.<\/p>\n
We don\u2019t know which team he would play for, and there would have to be mutual interest. Malkin owns a home in South Florida and has a good relationship with Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice, who coached Malkin in Magnitogorsk, Russia, during the NHL\u2019s 2012-13 lockout.<\/p>\n
One of Malkin\u2019s closest friends, Sergei Gonchar, lives in the Dallas area.<\/p>\n
Given the season Malkin just had, and the league\u2019s rising salary cap, plenty of interested teams in win-now mode would likely line up for Malkin\u2019s services.<\/p>\n
The bottom line<\/p>\n
For all the scrutiny this decision will receive, Dubas is OK no matter what he does, so long as he\u2019s true to himself.<\/p>\n
If Dubas brings back Malkin, fans and the locker room alike will be delighted. He can still play, and even if he doesn\u2019t perform at last season\u2019s level \u2014 given his age, he probably won\u2019t \u2014 it\u2019s not like he\u2019s going to embarrass himself. Malkin also figures to sign at a team-friendly rate if he gets a contract. The Penguins won\u2019t find someone with his talent on the market for this low of a price.<\/p>\n
The Penguins\u2019 new owners, the Hoffmann family, certainly would be in favor of a box-office attraction returning for another season. So, on many levels, bringing him back seems logical.<\/p>\n
However, keep this in mind: Only Dubas truly knows the intricacies of his long-term plan.<\/p>\n
We know Dubas wants the Penguins to get younger and faster \u2014 two things that Malkin doesn\u2019t provide. Several big, expensive names could be available on the trade block this summer and could be of interest to Dubas. Given his momentum over the past 18 months, Dubas has earned the right to build the Penguins in his vision, even if it doesn\u2019t include Malkin. I suspect it does not. The Penguins have been an organization of stars since 1984, and right now, Dubas is one of its brightest stars. That trumps Malkin\u2019s star power at this point in his career.<\/p>\n
If the Penguins give Malkin a one-year deal, this situation could easily repeat itself next year, which is to say, Dubas is likely to be villainized at some point. Dubas should not concern himself with nostalgia. He can leave that to the fans. His job is to build a sustained championship contender. If he believes Malkin can help in that pursuit, he should sign him. If he doesn\u2019t, it\u2019s time to say goodbye.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s worth emphasizing that this isn\u2019t a normal case. Malkin isn\u2019t another Hall of Famer. Very few, if any, Pittsburgh athletes have made such a strong connection with local fans. Crosby is beloved, sure, but he\u2019s not as emotional on the ice as Malkin. Lemieux was a magician; we knew we were witnessing a once-in-a-lifetime athlete, but so much of his life was closed off.<\/p>\n
Malkin is an artist in the most traditional of ways: He makes you feel. Whether you\u2019re in awe, frustrated or right there with him when he cross-checks someone, he conjures strong emotions. So, if this is the end, it will hurt a little bit more. The guy from Russia who speaks limited English is one of us. He\u2019s a Pittsburgher to the core.<\/p>\n
There is nothing wrong with Malkin returning. He earned it with his performance. But signing him is only sensible if it\u2019s part of Dubas\u2019 bigger plan, which sure seems to be working. As much as Malkin earned his right to return, Dubas earned his right to make the decision he feels is best, even if it\u2019s painful or uncomfortable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PITTSBURGH \u2014 The Pittsburgh Penguins provide so much theater that it regularly seeps into the summer. This offseason…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":625726,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,1790,99],"class_list":["post-625725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-pittsburgh-penguins","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625725\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}