Penguins nice Evgeni Malkin
squashed any retirement rumors earlier this season, at the very least because it pertains to this summer time. With one yr left on his contract, although, the tide is shifting towards Malkin ending his NHL profession when he turns into an unrestricted free agent in 2026, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period wrote Monday.
If he does end up retiring, at least from the NHL, it shouldn’t be a drastic surprise. The 38-year-old center remains a surefire Hall-of-Famer whenever he’s up for election, but his point pace has steadily declined over the past four years. This season saw Malkin average just 1.84 shots on goal per game, down 41% from his career average.
Malkin’s 0.82 points per game in 2023-24 and his 0.74 mark in 2024-25 rank as the two lowest figures of his 19-year career. Nonetheless, that’s still a good clip for a player with a rather reasonable $6.1M cap hit stemming from the four-year, $24.4M extension he signed in 2022 to safe the tip of his profession in Pittsburgh after almost reaching the open market.
Because the staff round him continues to enter aggressive retool mode, Malkin remained much less of a second-line fixture than he has in years previous – maybe deliberately because the staff prepares for all times with out him within the 2C function. He spent important parts of the season at left wing with Sidney Crosby and completed fifth on the staff in scoring with 16-34–50 in 68 video games.
A 3-time MVP finalist and one-time winner, Malkin remained steadfast earlier this yr that he doesn’t plan on ending his NHL profession wherever apart from Pittsburgh. Relying on how strongly he nonetheless feels about that assertion, the Penguins’ want to speed up their roster turnover subsequent summer time by not providing him an extension might play a big consider his determination to retire.
As for Malkin’s influence on the Penguins franchise and the league usually, it may well’t be overstated. His 1,346 factors in 1,213 regular-season video games rank thirty first in NHL historical past. One other 50-point yr in 2025-26 might push him all the best way as much as twenty fourth. Solely Crosby and Mario Lemieux have tallied extra factors than him in a Penguins uniform. The 6-foot-5″, 210-lb Russian additionally ranks first in franchise historical past with 1,202 PIMs.
