- Metallurg director Alexei Zhloba says the KHL club wanted Evgeni Malkin back in Magnitogorsk this season
- Malkin re-signed in Pittsburgh on a one-year deal and is about to start his 21st NHL season
- Read below for what Zhloba said about where things stand now
Metallurg Magnitogorsk wanted Evgeni Malkin home this season.
Malkin re-signed in Pittsburgh instead, and the KHL club has not let the idea go. Club director Alexei Zhloba was asked by Championat reporter Vladimir Laevsky, in an interview published Thursday, whether Malkin could come back next season.
“Let’s wait for Evgeni’s decision. For Metallurg and for the league, the return of a player like that would be a huge event. He proved over his career that he would be a top player in the KHL. We are in contact, there is a relationship between the club, the president, the director, the sporting director and Evgeni.”
Zhloba was also asked whether Metallurg was let down when Malkin stayed in North America. The answer was split down the middle.
“To say that we were hoping Malkin would come, it was 50-50. For the club it would have been interesting, and for the fans, a player of that level coming to Magnitka would have been an event on an enormous scale.”
Pittsburgh got its answer on May 26. Malkin signed a one-year contract worth $5.5 million in guaranteed money, with another $3.5 million available in performance bonuses, per Pro Hockey Rumors. Check out how the Penguins announced it:
The 40-year-old had already said what he wanted a few weeks before that, days after the Penguins lost to Philadelphia in the first round. Watch Malkin on his future that afternoon:
Production was never the question. Malkin put up 61 points (19 goals, 42 assists) in 56 games last season and sits third in Penguins history with 1,407 points, behind only Sidney Crosby and Mario Lemieux. We wrote in August about how close he has come to calling this the end.
The pitch would not be going to a stranger. Malkin was born in Magnitogorsk and came up through Metallurg’s system before Pittsburgh took him second overall in 2004, and he went back during the 2012-13 lockout for 65 points (23 goals, 42 assists) in 37 games. Even after leaving in January when the NHL restarted, he finished third in KHL scoring that year.
Staying in Pittsburgh also kept one of the sport’s longest partnerships running. Crosby, Malkin and Kris Letang became the first trio of NHL teammates to play 20 seasons together last October, and camp opens on year 21:
Malkin’s contract runs out on July 1. Zhloba says the line to Magnitogorsk stays open until then.
