Malkin Tall

  It is not uncommon for Evgeni Malkin to be in the current position he is; leading his respective Eastern Conference team to the top of the charts, and leading his club in points, but this year it comes with a different backdrop – but the man in the foreground is the same man we’ve seen lead on our soil in years’ past.

  Malkin, one of the NHL’s most devastating offensive powerhouses is up to his old tricks, but for the first time since 2005-06, he’s doing in Russia’s top league, the Kontinental Hockey League.

  Playing in his native town of Magnitogorsk for the Metallurg club, Malkin has produced 8 goals and 28 points in just 18 games. He is one single point behind line mate Sergei Mozyakin, and three points behind league-leader Alexander Radulov, who has led the KHL previously in points scoring, but was unable to get things going in his return to the states just before the NHL playoffs.

  Malkin is a player unlike most. In fact, Malkin is one of the best players in the world no matter where he’s playing. In recent years with the Penguins, Malkin has made everyone around him better, which is a key attribute and defining point of a ‘great’ hockey player. Just as he did with players such as James Neal, Pascal Dupuis and Chris Kunitz on Pittsburgh, Malkin is doing with players such as Toronto Maples Leaf’s Nikolai Kulemin and ex New York Ranger Enver Lisin on Metallurg. Kulemin, for example, has scored 6 goals and 11 points through 17 games this season. Compare that to his dismal 2011-12 NHL season where he tallied 7 goals and 28 points in all of 70 games. Kulemin, to the delight of Leaf’s fans, will be benefitting from Malkin’s presence on the team.

  Malkin is an elite player, and he has shown that to North American fans ever since we got our first real look at him. Drafted in 2004, 2nd overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins, Malkin was perhaps slightly delayed in his initial appearance due to the 2004-05 lock out, but made his debut in 2006-07. In his rookie year, Malkin posted a jaw-dropping 33 goals and 52 assists for 85 points. For Malkin, his dominant rookie season would be overshadowed, much like the vast majority of his experience in Pittsburgh with the exception of last season, as 2005 first overall pick Sidney Crosby totaled an even more impressive 120 points in his second year, but Malkin would in fact be receiving the Calder Memorial Trophy for the league’s best rookie – something that Crosby was unable to attain the year before up against Malkin’s countryman, Alex Ovechkin.

  With Crosby out nearly all of last season, Malkin proved fully capable of leading the Pittsburgh Penguins and taking the weight on his shoulders. In 75 regular season games last year, he totaled 50 goals – enough for 2nd best in the league, and 109 points which topped everyone. Malkin received his second Art Ross Trophy for the NHL’s leading scorer, but last year Malkin needed a few extra hands to help carry his things to his car after the awards show. He went on to also receive the Ted Lindsay Award (Player of the Year selected by the NHLPA), and the Hart Trophy for league MVP. His dominant year was much like that of 2008-09, where Malkin not only won the Stanley Cup, but the Art Ross Trophy, and Conn Smythe Trophy for Playoff’s MVP.

  For the Penguins to be missing Sidney Crosby, it has been a real tragedy to the team and the NHL. Thankfully for Pittsburgh, there is Malkin – an equally elite hockey player and ever so gifted goal scorer. With Crosby apparently getting well, the Penguins will certainly be challenging for another Stanley Cup run as soon as the lock out ends. But for now, ‘Gino’ is working his magic in Russia, and from the looks of things he is warming up to have one of his best years ever.

  No matter what happens for the year that has yet to become a reality in North American hockey at the NHL level, the fact that Malkin is the cream of the crop can never be disputed.

- Kendall Grubbs