Evgeni Malkin’s storied career with the Pittsburgh Penguins may be over.
Malkin, who is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent on Wednesday, plans to test the market then, as talks for a new deal with the Penguins appear to have reached an impasse.
Malkin’s intentions were confirmed by parties on both sides of the negotiations with the Penguins.
Malkin, who has insisted he wants to spend his entire career here, could still re-sign with the Pittsburgh Penguins if he doesn’t find something to his liking on the open market.
Malkin, who turns 36 this month, and the Penguins couldn’t reconcile their differences on a new contract. As the deadline approached, it appeared the Penguins had three years left on their offer, and Malkin wanted more money in that term or a fourth year to increase the overall value of the contract.
His expiring contract carried an AAV of $9.5 million, and he will be one of the biggest names on the free agent market.
While the Penguins were in Montreal last week for the NHL Draft, they announced that another key player, defenseman Kris Letang, had avoided free agency and agreed to a six-year, $36.6 million contract of dollars
At the time, general manager Ron Hextall didn’t seem overly optimistic about negotiations with Malkin, though he and Malkin had made it clear they wanted him to re-sign and ideally retire with the team that drafted him second in overall in the 2004 NHL draft. .
The other member of the trio of core players, center Sidney Crosby, has three seasons left on his contract. Crosby is the team captain; Malkin and Letang have served as alternate captains.
A fourth main player of long career, goalkeeper Marc-André Fleuryhe left in 2017, right after the Penguins’ last Stanley Cup title, when he was drafted by the Vegas Golden Knights in their expansion draft, which was orchestrated by both clubs.
Malkin is expected to reach the major milestone of 1,000 games early next season. He has 981 games, with 444 goals and 1,146 points, in his career. He won the Calder Trophy as Rookie of the Year in 2007, the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP when the Penguins won the Cup in 2009, the Art Ross Trophy as leading scorer in 2009 and in 2012, the Hart as league MVP in 2012 and the Ted Lindsay Award as Most Outstanding Player, as voted by other players in 2012.
Evgeni Malkin has 67 goals, 180 points in 177 playoff games.
Last season, Malkin averaged just over a point per game (20 goals, 42 points in 41 games), but missed the first half of the season due to major knee surgery in the season low pass
In fact, Malkin has missed significant time due to injuries in recent seasons. The closest he came to a full season in more than a decade was 78 games in 2017-18.
Malkin still looked dominant at times last season, though some believe he isn’t the skater he used to be.
Shelly Anderson contributed to this report.
