Sports are in an era where fanboy drivel and appeasement mean as much as (and probably more than) trying to build a winner, especially if it’s not “win now.”
Fans want stars retained indefinitely because they wear that star’s jersey.
Nostalgia.
Giving a proper send-off.
Feel-good moments.
Vibe.
Aura.
All that is legitimately important to the citizens. (But complaints still fly if the team loses.)
The fans want Evgeni Malkin back.
The captain wants Malkin back.
The new owners won’t want to look like heartless carpetbaggers by letting Malkin go. (Just like the Fenway Sports Group’s acquisition of the Penguins saved Malkin in 2022.)
Not re-upping Malkin is what’s best for moving forward, at long last. For implementing a plan that goes beyond next season.
But for president of hockey ops/GM Kyle Dubas, it’s not a hill worth dying on.
The Penguins have got to bring back Malkin, and let him play for as long as Sidney Crosby does. The same applies to Kris Letang, who has two more years left on his contract.
It guarantees nothing positive beyond feel-good moments, vibe, aura, a barrage of statistical milestones with the attendant ceremonies.
But this path was cemented long before Dubas got to Pittsburgh. For all the wrong reasons.
Then the Penguins will be the Steelers.
They probably already are.
When the Penguins traded Jake Guentzel in 2024, they sandwiched going 1-6-1 around that deal. The dressing room pouted, effectively going on strike. (Those Penguins missed the playoffs by three points. Do the math.)
If Malkin is allowed to walk, it will be 10 times worse.
The stench would permeate all season. It would be a topic of discussion for the entirety of the campaign. It would 100% ruin the dressing room.
There’s no real harm in bringing back Malkin. He turns 40 before next season but is still a solid point-producer. Moving to wing minimizes his liabilities.
But you don’t move forward. Your dressing room becomes a museum. You can’t build on old.
These Penguins are nowhere close to being a legit contender. That got illuminated by losing a first-round series to their blood rival — a young, energetic team on the rise — while never being in danger of winning.
If Malkin returns, the coming season wouldn’t be a farewell tour. He’d want to play the next season, too.
The misguided among my peers feel that the core three should be augmented. Win now. Add talent.
So, how best to do that?
Dubas would be nuts to trade away future to prop up the aged. It wouldn’t work enough.
Via free agency, perhaps. The Penguins are projected to have $46 million in salary-cap space. That’s 44% of the anticipated total cap, $104 million.
But the NHL CBA doesn’t provide unrestricted free agency till age 27 or after seven accrued seasons. Look at the list of UFAs: Claude Giroux, Boone Jenner, Patrick Kane, Alex Tuch. It’s old-timers’ day. The Penguins could hand out a lot of Social Security.
Signing restricted free agents requires compensation: Give Dallas winger Jason Robertson $12 million per, as he merits, and bid farewell to four first-round picks.
Dubas could keep making blockbuster trades like when he got Egor Chinakhov. But those deals are hard to make, let alone in quantity.
We’re told the Penguins won’t again have a top center and top defenseman like Crosby and Erik Karlsson anytime soon.
That’s correct. Not as long as the Penguins keep finishing in the mushy middle.
So, re-sign Malkin.
Who is Dubas to derail the unbreakable bond of eternal brotherhood?
But everybody involved should then shut up and live with what happens after. Because this is what they wanted. Another first-round exit next year seems the ceiling.
I’m a Penguins lifer. Running it back is OK by me.
Feel-good, aura, vibe, everything will be hunky-dory except for that part about not winning playoff series — which the Penguins haven’t done since 2018 — while digging the hole deeper.
Malkin’s potential departure has been compared to Andrew McCutchen leaving the Pirates.
It’s way different.
To employ a Pirates context, McCutchen is McCutchen while Malkin is Willie Stargell: A Hall-of-Famer who won multiple championships. Malkin’s significance to the logo shouldn’t be lost on anybody.
McCutchen is already mostly forgotten.
That’s because the Pirates are on the rise and have amazing young talent like Paul Skenes and Konnor Griffin. The Penguins don’t. Not like those two.
So, keep Malkin.
As long as the core three want to play together with the Penguins, let them.
That’s the corner Dubas finds himself painted into.