On the cusp of Evgeni Malkin’s 38th birthday he shared some thoughts about his longtime friend and captain and his contract situation.

From Responsible Gambling’s Sergey Demidov

Pittsburgh is Crosby. Crosby is Pittsburgh. No one in Pittsburgh would understand if he changed teams," Malkin said in an exclusive interview with RG.org. "Although anything can happen, sometimes things happen that have a one percent chance of happening. But before signing my current contract, we talked. And he told me that the Penguins are us: me, him, [Kris] Letang. I signed my contract. He will probably make the same decision."

The last part is the pertinent part. Nothing about Crosby’s personality or actions over the course of his public life would point to him not being loyal to the people he is closest with. If he told Malkin and Letang they were the Penguins then I am inclined to interpret that as his commitment to those two who signed their extensions before him.

Malkin addressed the uncertainty of his contract situation two years ago

"Now I can't imagine myself on another team, although two years ago when I signed my current contract, I had different thoughts," Malkin admitted. "We had tough negotiations. Many players changed teams—even Wayne Gretzky. Steven Stamkos recently did it. There aren't many players who've spent their entire careers with one team. Now, I can't imagine going anywhere, but there was such a chance two years ago."

There was a real chance of losing Malkin to free agency and despite the Penguins struggles to make the playoffs I am still very glad he remains a Penguin. It isn’t like its been Malkin’s fault the depth scoring and his quality of linemate has been rubbish.

On how long he plans on playing:

Malkin said that he would only be ready to play until he's 45 in one case: if Crosby signs an eight-year contract with the Penguins.

I want to play for another two years. As for another one, we'll see after that.

"It will be hard, of course, but I have to," Malkin said to RG.org. "I hope I won't play until I'm 45, actually. I want to play for another two years. As for another one, we'll see after that. I still want to spend time with my family. Family is a very important part of life. Many say they want to return to hockey soon after they retire. But I think my body will tell me when to stop. Maybe it will be expressed in a loss of desire to play. Or I'll start wondering if it's time to retire. Probably, it will happen like this: I'll wake up one morning and realize that I don't want to play hockey anymore."

Sounds pretty reasonable. It isn’t normal for players to be playing in this league at Malkin’s age let alone at a high level. The best players don’t usually like hanging around to just hang around. If their play slips significantly they’d rather pack it up and call it a day. I do think Malkin showed some signs of aging last year, but I also don’t think it was anywhere close to the point where he was a liability or a bad cap value.

Lastly he spoke about missing the playoffs the past two seasons

I have mixed feelings about it," Malkin said. "I played 82 games twice, and both times, we missed the playoffs at the last minute. I thought about it a lot, to be honest. I guess the secret is that I prepared for the seasons correctly. It's important to extend my career as long as possible. I still have the desire to play. I still enjoy going out on the ice in every game. It gets harder every year, of course. But I enjoy hockey a lot. I hope to play all 82 games again next season and make the playoffs. I hope there won't be any injuries. Small injuries happen anyway, but I hope there won't be any serious ones."

He is properly committed and it remains frustrating both Crosby and Malkin haven’t missed a game in two seasons yet the team couldn’t make the playoffs. It speaks to the poor job multiple general managers have done with the surrounding depth players. Malkin is saying the right things here. The problem is the focus has shifted. I don’t believe the Penguins offseason was geared towards making the playoffs. The front office’s intentions seem to be on eating a season or two to reset things. For Malkin, that is probably too long before he calls it a career. It is likely he’s played in his last playoff game, which is unfortunate.

Thanks for reading!

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