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Just give Evgeni Malkin the fourth year and be done with it |
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We are all waiting for the Evgeni Malkin contract talks to resolve itself one way or another. For me, that needs to end with a signed contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins. It remains the path of least resistance for the team to keep competing. I still believe a deal will get done. It would be idiotic at this point if it did not.
Here is the latest we have to go on.
“He wants to play only in Pittsburgh,” one of Malkin’s friends said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
“He doesn’t understand how it’s at this point with him not being signed,” the friend said. “He’s said, ‘They don’t think I’m a good player — why?’”
Added a longtime current teammate who spoke with Malkin this past week: “It bothers me how this is happening. It’s a bad look. From what I know of what’s happened, Geno deserves better.”
Yup, I agree. He definitely deserves better. He is on the Mount Rushmore of this franchise and his demands, as reported, are not that of a player looking to get one over on the team. They look incredibly reasonable to me. Those demands? A four-year contract at 6M. The Penguins are stuck on three years, really.
The Penguins opening offer near the end of the regular season was for two years at $6 million, a league and team source said. By Thursday, the Penguins had gone up to three years at the same salary. Weeks passed between Barry’s counter to the Penguins’ initial offer and Hextall going from two to three years, multiple league and team sources said.
If the Penguins offered four years, that $6 million salary could work for Malkin. However, Malkin distanced himself and prepared to move on after what he saw as a combination of low offers and being a lack of a priority for the Penguins. Things were recently so precarious that Crosby paid a visit to Malkin at his home on Fisher Island in South Florida.
If you take things at face value there is no reason for the Penguins to not give the fourth year and be done with it and focus on the rest of their offseason tasks. The team has already given Bryan Rust and Kris Letang term past the time this team is going to be competitive. What’s the difference if you do it for Malkin, who isn’t even asking for six years? There is no reason not to.
We are talking about a player who has put off surgeries and played through many injuries throughout his career for the betterment of the organization when it wasn’t beneficial for him. When he signed his eight-year contract that 9.5M AAV could have easily been 11M. If it was I don’t believe you get another Stanley Cup let alone back-to-back. Give the man his fourth year and treat him with the respect he deserves.
He came off of major knee surgery and no proper offseason training to put up 42 points in 41 games. He will be afforded the proper time to train heading into this season. This isn’t just a legacy signing. It remains the most cost conscious things the Penguins can do. Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin locked into a combined 12M cap hit? If I said it was possible a month ago people would have flat out rejected it as an outcome. Apparently, it is sitting right there. You gotta do it. It’s the right thing to do for many reasons. Give the man his fourth year.
Thanks for reading!
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