CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Evgeni Malkin spent the NHL’s break for 4 Nations Face-Off in South Florida enjoying quality time with family, swimming and sneaking in a dinner with longtime frenemy Alex Ovechkin. He returned to Pittsburgh with no lingering pain from a knee injury that caused him to miss six consecutive games and a hope to spark the Penguins on a push for the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Oh, and there’s this …
“I not retire,” Malkin said to The Athletic on Wednesday. “I know what some people say — like, I go back to Russia and play for my home team. But I never say it, you know?
“I retire with Pittsburgh. The Penguins are my team. I love this team. When I retire it’s here.”
Malkin has rarely spoken more definitely on any topic.
At 38 and in his 19th season, he has scored only nine goals and 34 points in 47 games. His career averages per 82 games are 36 goals and 93 points.
Though Malkin spoke as recently as last September about wanting another 100-point season in the NHL, his days as a dominant scorer are likely finished. He has one season remaining on his contract and has not decided if it will be his last.
That last contract will be with the Penguins, though.
“I retire here — with Penguins — when it happens,” Malkin said. “This is my only team.”
Fenway Sports Group, which owns the Penguins, believes Malkin playing only for the Penguins — as is the wish for captain Sidney Crosby — is best for the Penguins’ short and long term. Crosby and Malkin will have their numbers retired, joining the late Michel Brière (21), Mario Lemieux (66) and Jaromir Jagr (68).
With Lemieux no longer around the franchise daily and Jagr, despite a public reunion a year ago, living in Czechia, team sources said FSG envisions Malkin and Crosby having roles with the Penguins after each is done playing — as ambassadors if nothing else.
Crosby, signed through 2026-27, has repeatedly said he will play only for the Penguins. He and Malkin are the franchise leaders in games played and join Lemieux as the only players in franchise history to win the Hart and Conn Smythe trophies and multiple scoring titles.
Malkin played three seasons with his hometown Metallurg Magnitogorsk from 2003-06 and again during the 2012-13 NHL lockout. There has long been speculation that Malkin would finish his professional career with Magnitogorsk, given his parents still live in the city home to Metallurg, for whom Malkin casts a large shadow.
“I not play in Russia after Pittsburgh,” Malkin said Wednesday. “Maybe one game for home team in Russia. Just one to say goodbye.”
Malkin is more focused on the end of this season and the Penguins’ final 25 regular-season games.
They are above only two teams in the Eastern Conference and sit six points out of the second wild-card slot.
Malkin said his primary goal is for the Penguins to return to the playoffs after a two-season absence. His son, Nikita, will turn 9 in June and was too young to appreciate the Penguins’ most recent postseason success.
The Penguins haven’t won a playoff series since 2018.
“It’s my dream for him to see us in playoffs — make good memories for him,” Malkin said earlier this season. “I hope I play long enough to see it.”
After not missing a game the previous two seasons, Malkin missed 10 of 18 games before the break due to lower- and upper-body injuries. An MRI on his left knee showed no damage — a relief, he said, because he’s had two major surgeries on his right knee.
“I’m not feel much pain,” he said of the left knee injury, sustained during a collision with the Seattle Kraken’s Chandler Stephenson on Jan. 25.
“When your knee, what I’ve done before, you always think bad things.”
Malkin said he will play for the Penguins against the Washington Capitals at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday.
Malkin would have rather spent the break teaming with Ovechkin for a Russian national team as part of the 4 Nations tournament. The IIHF has upheld Russia’s ban from international ice hockey events through 2025-26, though 4 Nations Face-Off is an NHL-sanctioned tournament.
“I know break is good for my body, but I want to play for national team,” Malkin said, adding that “hopefully” the IIHF ban is lifted for the 2025 Winter Olympics in Italy.
His loyalties are divided for the 4 Nations final on Thursday night in Boston. Team USA is coached by Mike Sullivan, with whom Malkin has a close relationship. However, Team Canada is captained by Crosby, one of his dearest friends and iconic tag-team partner with the Penguins.
“Sid and Sully, it’s hard choice,” Malkin said. “But I think Canada is my choice.”
(Photo: Ric Tapia / Getty Images)
