Pittsburgh Penguins star Evgeni Malkin has shared that he plans to play when the workforce returns from break on Saturday, per Rob Rossi of The Athletic. Malkin has missed Pittsburgh’s final six video games after struggling an damage within the workforce’s Jan. 25 loss to Seattle. He suffered the damage roughly midway by way of the primary interval after the skate of Kraken ahead Chandler Stephenson appeared to catch Malkin within the thigh. He tried to return for a quick shift later within the first however was dominated out earlier than the sport’s second interval. Pittsburgh positioned Malkin on injured reserve simply two days later. He’ll have to be activated off of IR earlier than Saturday’s sport, forcing Pittsburgh to reassign a participant like Vasiliy Ponomarev or Bokondji Imama.
The return of one in every of their lineup pillars can be nice information in Pittsburgh. Malkin has continued to carry out at a world-class stage this 12 months, along with his 34 factors in 47 video games ranked fifth on the workforce in complete scoring. In even higher information, Malkin went on to emphasise to Rossi that he has no intentions of retiring this summer time or taking part in wherever else.
He told The Athletic, “[I’ll] retire with Pittsburgh. The Penguins are my workforce… Once I retire, [it’ll be] right here.”
Malkin added that, regardless of hypothesis, he has no plans of taking part in anymore Russian hockey both — save for doubtlessly a one-game send-off along with his hometown Metallurg Magnitogorsk when all is claimed and performed.
Malkin is signed by way of the top of the 2025-26 season, setting him up for a minimum of another full 12 months in Pittsburgh’s black-and-gold. He’s squashed talks of a possible retirement this summer time, which can naturally push consideration again till his deal ends in 2026. However Malkin continues to carry down a robust, middle-six position for the Penguins, averaging north of 18 minutes of ice time every sport this season. Fellow Penguins legend Sidney Crosby is signed by way of the top of the 2026-27 marketing campaign, which could possibly be sufficient to persuade Malkin to seek out an additional gear and retire alongside his longtime partner-in-crime. One 12 months after Crosby’s debut, Malkin entered the NHL in 2006-07. Crosby scored a career-high 120 factors in his first 12 months alongside Malkin, whereas the latter managed his career-high of 113 factors of their second 12 months collectively.
Few duos in hockey historical past have stood as tall as Crosby and Malkin. The 2 have led three Stanley Cup wins and recorded the only help on every the opposite’s five hundredth NHL aim. They’re a ubiquitous tandem, and Malkin’s imminent return from lower-body damage units him as much as proceed his position second to Crosby on the depth chart.
Malkin’s return will probably push one in every of Ponomarev, Blake Lizotte, or Emil Bemstrom out of the lineup. Lizotte and Bemstrom scored one aim of their final 10 video games, whereas Ponomarev remains to be looking for his first level after 4 NHL video games this season. Ought to Ponomarev be the odd man out, he’ll probably return to a red-hot minor-league season. Ponomarev ranks fourth on the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, scoring 29 factors in 34 video games.
