The National Hockey League has suspended superstar Penguins center Evgeni Malkin four games for his cross-check to the face of Predators defenseman Mark Borowiecki on Sunday. Malkin’s actions were deemed “retaliatory and aggressive” by the NHL’s Department of Player Safety.
It’s the second time Geno’s been suspended over the course of his 16-season career. He was previously suspended for a stick swinging incident in 2019.
He’ll miss a pair of upcoming home-and-home sets with the Islanders and the Bruins. Geno will be eligible to return for a matinee game on April 23 in Detroit. His absence likely means Jeff Carter will be elevated to second-line center, with Teddy Blueger centering the third line and Brian Boyle anchoring the fourth unit.
With eight games remaining in the regular season and the Pens battling to hold their place in the standings, the suspension comes at an inopportune time. It also leaves us short one forward. Anthony Angello and Radim Zohorna were recently shipped to the Baby Pens, perhaps to make room for Brock McGinn, who’s due to come off IR. Defenseman Mark Friedman can also play forward in a pinch.
In 37 games this season, Malkin’s tallied 17 goals and 37 points. Over half his production (eight goals and 19 points) have come on the power play. The rangy Russian has registered a team-worst minus-11, including a minus-eight over the past five games.
The Pens are 20-12-5 with Geno in the lineup and 22-10-5 without him. Although his absence will no doubt create a void offensively, given No. 71’s penchant for freelancing it’ll be interesting to see if our structure…ragged over the past couple of months…improves.
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Never are the Penguins “better off” without Malkin, no matter how much he drives us nuts with giveaways inside the line. Lightning you express well his strengths and drawbacks. The rampant anti-Malkin narrative on the internet, for years now, is a low IQ crowd, which similarly claims Letang is somehow a hindrance to Penguin success. Both are obviously worth whatever trouble they get into - and Malkin is way more reckless and at times infuriating - and both are still critical to any success we may have going forward for the present push.. You either sink or swim with Malkin but without him, you most definitely sink.
100% agreed John,
More importantly, if you analyze the data (aka Facts) Malkin's On Ice Give Away s OIGV, that is to say the number of Give Away s that occur (regardless of which player on the ice gave the puck away) is relatively equal to the OIGV of Crosby who is considered the gold standard for defensive, 200'-0" hockey.
I have refrained from doing a full article on how ridiculous the anti-Malkin smear campaign is because I don't like wasting my time on people whose hatred will blind them to facts, facts like if Malkin was such a horrible back checker, why has he always led or been at the top of the team in take away s (Tk)?
Whether people want to acknowledge it or not, Malkin's Gv are more of a factor of him not being a spectator on the ice, but looking to engage in the play more than almost every other player on the team. Basically, you can't give something away unless you have it. And not only have it but are a threat to score with it.
Maybe someday I will present the full data to support this claim.
Rick,
Nice article.
Malkin probably has the best slap shot on the team, but generally only uses it on the power play.
His contribution 5 v5 is indeed questionable as you said.
He makes many incredible passes… when they work, they stand out as exceptional.. when they don’t, they can be a profound liability. His teammates often bear the burden of dealing with his freelancing play.
He has immense talent which is undeniably present throughout any given season but struggles to play with a constructive edge.. when he finds it… he’s a force of nature.
Unfortunately… that’s rarer than we need these days.
As you say, it will be interesting to see how the pluses and minuses of all of this manifest on the team.
Hey Rick,
It will be interesting to see how the team performs in his absence. With the exception of the power play they may actually do better 5 on 5 in my opinion. Time will tell.These next 4 games will be physical games for sure and I just worry about injury to other key players.
So much for resting our aging players.
Cheers
Jim