After attending another routine Penguins’ victory at the Consol Energy Center last night, you would think I would have been riding high knowing the Penguins are just one victory over the Bruins Friday night from clinching the top seed in the Eastern Conference and getting guaranteed home ice advantage for at least the first three rounds of the playoffs.
That assumption would be wrong.
My mood was tempered by at least five separate “Mensa” members I overheard while walking through the concourse in between periods who all think the Penguins should trade Evgeni Malkin during the upcoming offseason. Now, of course, these same folks had already penciled in that the Penguins will have won the Cup this year most likely never once remembering that the Penguins have lost their last three playoff series all to teams they should have easily beaten. Their “logic” all contained some of the following tid bits: “How can you pay a guy $8.7 million to put up the numbers he’s putting up?”, “Oh sure, he plays just fine on the bigger surface in Russia”, “He doesn’t like playing second fiddle to Sidney Crosby”, “Think what we could get for him, easily a good combination of six players and draft picks, we’d be stocked for years”.
Even back on March 23rd, our own Rick Buker proselytized whether it was “Time to Trade Malkin? (Penguins Update: Time to Trade Malkin?)
ENOUGH ALREADY!!!!!!
Most of this trade Geno talk has stemmed from the fact that last year he won both the Hart(NHL MVP) and the Art Ross(NHL Leading scorer) trophies, and he is nowhere close to winning either this season. He currently has one year remaining after this one on a contract that is paying him, cap wise, $8.7 million per season. If you ever were going to trade him, this offseason would be the time to do it. His value, especially should the Penguins go on to win the Cup, will never be higher, and you would be giving any team that trades for him a full season of him and a full season to negotiate an extension.
But why would you trade the second best player in the game????? Is Malkin putting up the same kinds of numbers that he put up last season? No, but so what? He is still averaging over a point a game. If you extrapolated his numbers to a full 82 game season, he would end up with 85 points this year not stellar, but more than respectable. Having Malkin on the team gives the Penguins the best second line Center in hockey as well as one of the best power play units. What could the Penguins get back for Geno that would come anywhere close to equaling what they would give up? Prospects, draft picks? Maybe, but not guys who could possibly develop into the second best forward in the game in time to win a few more Cups with Sidney Crosby. In professional sports, trades have always been graded on which team got the better player in the trade. Unless the guy coming back to us in a trade is Sidney Crosby, the other team is getting the better player, hence, they win the trade.
I’ve heard people say that Geno wants to leave and go somewhere where he can be out of Sid’s shadow and be “The Man”. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. While playing over in Russia this past Winter during the NHL lockout, Malkin was “The Man”. He is a bigger star over there than Alex Ovechkin. Everywhere he goes, he is hounded by media and paparazzi. After every game, he has a hundred microphones in his face asking him myriad questions over and over. Geno’s reaction to all of this was, “How does Sidney do this all the time?” I personally think Malkin is happier letting Sid be “The Man” and he can sit quietly in the background. I really don’t think he wants to go to a team in a larger media market where he will be expected to carry a team night in and night out and then have to answer to the media if he has an off night.
Geno has won two Art Ross trophies in his young career. Do you know how many people have won it more than once, not that many. And the ones who have have names like: Jagr, Lemieux, Gretzky, Mikita, Esposito, Hull, Orr and Howe. Would you trade away any of these players if they were on your team right now at the height of their career?
Yes, resigning Malkin will give the Penguins two very expensive players in a league where the salary cap is going down next year, but I trust in Ray Shero to find a way to make it work and keep the Penguins competitive for the next 7 – 10 years.
Instead of wanting to get rid of Malkin, we should be enjoying every day that he is a Penguin and hope that there are many more years to come.
Nicely done, Disco Stu … 🙂
Finally. Someone with some sense. Every Pens fan should read this article!
spot on. Fans are mostly going to be (uneducated) fans. The Wild Geno supporters would rather release everyone else on the team and let him play with twin peg-legged brothers, a rodeo clown, a south side space saving chair and a one eyed stray pit-bull goaltender on the ice than entertain the thought of their favorite Soviet take a backseat to anyone including Sid. On the other side, some fans can’t wait to show “overrated, injured, under-producing,” number 71 the trade door for what they see as 8 first rounders, 4 current captains, 2 frozen vials of Gretzky’s sperm and a partridge in a pear tree to be named later. Regardless of the distorted view some may have, enjoy the next couple of months…..”play hockey boys”.
Like any team would give up a partridge in a pear tree even for Malkin
….it was to be named later.
Geno is one of the most loyal member of the pens. Before playing for another NHL franchise he would go back to Russia. He will not claim for a high salary increase. In my opinion his salary will stay at around 8.7$ Million. So Shero will be able to hold guys like Letang und Dupius …
You are right on target – we need Geno!!!
If Malkin wants to be a Pen than it would be foolish to trade him, he showed a lot when Crosby was out last year and is probably the number two player in the world. But he has been one before, so why trade him? Pay the man!
Neal has all his goals because of Geno. Any fan that thinks that Geno should be traded should be given a Flyer’s jersey and a one way ticket to Philly.
They sound like the same morons that want to trade fleury after 1 bad game
@PenguinPoop the Penguins would never be able to get in trade what Malkin is worth. Players like that might come around every 5-10 years.
@PenguinPoop that’s even funnier than #habs fans saying to trade Carey Price hahah #noneedforanMVP
yeah, what’s that all about? 2012 MVP having a subpar year with injuries so fans want him gone ? Wtf? #GOPENS he’ll be back
Yes i agree trading Malkin you would not get eqal talent in the trade…..But if you indeed are not going to be able to resign guys like Dupuis,Kunitz,Letang,and Malkin all under the cap i will take those 3 guys plus the amazing trade package you would get for Malkin rather then losing him and getting nothing for him because you can’t fit him under the cap at 8-9 million per season and you lose him!!
Not to worry. Stay tuned for my future article on why this offseason is the best time to trade Letang and why we should not resign Dupuis
Can’t wait for that article Stu..but I love Letang but this off season is the time to trade him only if he doesn’t take a home town discount
If it comes down to having to choose between Letang and Malkin to stay under the cap the logical choice is to keep Letang, He brings many elements that cannot be replaced. Its not going to come down to “wanting” to trade Malkin. It may come down to having to choose between Malkin and Letang.IF IT DOES come to that, I choose Letang and I hope Shero does too,
I agree with PJ. Letang has unique abilities not seen in many defencemen still in the NHL. To many defencemen now-a-days are wasting time shooting the puck on net. There is no need to keep a two time Art Ross Trophy winner and the MVP of the Penguins Stanley Cup run when the Penguins don’t have anyone else on their roster or on the Baby Pens with those kinds of skills.
I hadn’t heard any of this before. What nonsense! Why would you trade the 2nd best player in the game?
As much as I hate to admit it, Geno is under appreciated here by most in Pittsburgh. He plays his game and every time Sid has gone down he has stepped up and carried the team on his shoulders in true to superstar form. He receives his praise as long as the team is doing well but once they start to slide or Sid is close to returning he is all but 2nd fiddle again (remember back in 2007/8 season when Sid suffered his high ankle sprain.) He is a great player a different mold than Sid and in some aspects even better (imho) the Pens would be crazy to trade him and if they did I think it wouldn’t take very long to realize his absence.
I will be VERY angry if we loose Geno. It would be a really stupid move and I believe the Pens know this.
The only way I see him getting traded would be to shave some cap space next season, but there are few teams who could take on his cap hit and fewer which could actually afford him. He’s a PEN for a while.
Not only that, but you would also have to make sure that any team that did have cap space to take on Geno actually has something the Penguins would want in return.
These are the same assholes that didn’t know there was a team in Pittsburgh from 01 to 05. If we could only trade “fans” of this team instead of Malkin then Real Penguin Fans would win!
I am a die hard Pens fan from Chicago and when he is on he is on. The Pens would be stupid to trade him.
As a die hard Pens fan for 29 yrs, it bugs the hell out of me when “fans” start taking bull crap.
Not to mention, didn’t Jussi Jokenin go down last night and fail to appear after his third shift during the second period? In this day and age, you can not have too much depth. Malkin affects the game beyond the goals and assists category that everyone seems to be harping on. Malkin is strong from the perimeter, or in the thick of action down low. He works hard on the forecheck and defensively. By the way, while in this shortened season, during which he has played with injury from time to time, his numbers may seem a little off of last year’s pace, but are by no means something to be considered irrelevant.
Jokinnen left the game last night because of a bad stomach bug. He tried to play through it, but let’s just say, when you got to go, you got to go.
I am loathe to think my favorite player might be traded but I also realize in the cap era anything is possible. Sometimes doing the most loathesome thing is the only practical solution. Should they do everything and anything possible to keep Malkin? I would hope they do. But, somewhere in the back of my mind is the caveat that in the end the business side of the game always wins. In the cap era it has to. For the fan, it’s all about the game on the ice. For the Ray Sheros of the world, after all the data is in, it is a game of numbers.
….I know a better solution! Let’s start trading Fans? I’m sure there are team who would like more followers? lol
trade Malkin.yeah right
These people are crazy to consider trading Malkin. If Crosby is the heart of this team then Malkin is the soul. These are the same people who said Ovi from the Caps was washed up and a has been but yet he now leads the league in goals. The Pens should do everything in there power to sign Malkin and Letang to long term contracts!!!!
Well said! Wish more people would actually do research like you guys and realize Geno doesn’t want the “spotlight” He just wants to go out there and play hockey and do what he does best. (Just my 2 cents, I think he’s even better than Crosby when he’s on his game, even if it means playing “second fiddle” too him!)
Good read.
Thank you…
maybe these people should go cheer for the team they figure he should be traded to? Penguin fans are not blind to what Malkin’s brings to the Pen’s!
Exactly! ENOUGH people. Either support our PENS, or keep your mouth shut. Please, Thank you and have a great day 🙂
if you call yourself a Pens fan and at the same time call for Geno to be traded,your a fraud and a freaking moron in my book! You should just go jump on the Flyers band wagon because like them,you no nothing about hockey….idiots!
@PenguinPoop people need to relax guys been injured wait til playoffs he will come alive
Amen! “@PenguinPoop: Enough with the calls to trade Malkin already!!!! … http://t.co/mUOMjSgEXQ … #Pens #Penguins”
@PenguinPoop I am not a fan of that idea, but I could see how people would say that. Just an off year..