Malkin Wants One More NHL Season — Hockey Scores

Evgeni Malkin wants one more NHL season, and hockey scores around Pittsburgh may be shaping the final turn of his career. He said he is not looking to go back to the KHL and wants to keep playing next season, even if that is with another team.

Malkin’s next move

Malkin said in Cranberry, Pa., that he wants to play one more year in the NHL. “I mean, I want to play (in the) NHL, for sure,” he said. “But for me, I want to play one more year in the NHL.”

He also drew a firm line on where he does not want to go. “I'm not looking (to go) back to KHL, play in Russia. But if not Pittsburgh, I hope some team.” That leaves Pittsburgh with a direct choice as July 1 approaches and his current contract runs out.

Dubas and July 1

Malkin said he planned to speak with Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas on Friday. He could become an unrestricted free agent on July 1 after finishing the final season of a four-year, $24.4 million contract signed on July 12, 2022.

The timing matters because Malkin turns 40 years old on July 31. If he leaves Pittsburgh, he would be doing it after 20 NHL seasons with the Penguins, all of them spent in one uniform.

Crosby, Letang, and 20 seasons

Malkin has played 1,269 games for Pittsburgh since the Penguins selected him No. 2 in the 2004 NHL Draft. He has 1,407 points for the team, including 533 goals and 874 assists, putting him behind Sidney Crosby’s 1,761 points and Mario Lemieux’s 1,723 among Penguins scorers.

The three-time Stanley Cup core has lasted 20 seasons with Malkin, Crosby, and Kris Letang together. They won championships in 2009, 2016, and 2017, a run that still defines the modern Penguins.

Right wing, playoff loss

This season, Malkin moved to right wing midway through the year and finished with 61 points in 56 games. That was an uptick from last season, when he had 50 points in 68 games.

He also had 2 goals and 1 assist in the postseason before the Penguins were eliminated by the Philadelphia Flyers. Pittsburgh lost 1-0 in overtime in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference First Round on Wednesday, and Crosby said he would like to keep playing with Malkin longer.

“We’ve played together for so long, I think it’s clear that I’d love to be playing with him for longer, so we’ll see what happens,” Crosby said. “I think it’s pretty obvious that I’d love to keep playing with him.”