Evgeni Malkin said he wanted to stay.
Kyle Dubas said he’d love to have Malkin back.
On Tuesday, all parties concerned ensured one of the most consequential players in the history of the Pittsburgh Penguins would remain a member of the franchise for one more season as he signed a one-year contract extension worth $5.5 million.
According to Puckpedia, Malkin’s new contract contains several details below the surface, including:
• A no-movement clause
• A base salary of $2.5 million
• A signing bonus of $3 million
• Performance bonuses of up to $3.5 million, including $250,000 for playing 42 games, $250,000 for playing 63 games, $1 million if the team reaches the postseason and $500,000 for every postseason round the team wins
Malkin, who turns 40 on July 31, appeared in 56 games last season and scored 61 points (19 goals, 42 assists) and averaged 17:36 of ice time per contest.
While he was productive, Malkin dealt with nagging health woes throughout the campaign. Most notably, a left shoulder injury he suffered in December never fully healed and was partially the reason he moved from his listed position of center to the right wing.
Throughout the later stages of the season, Malkin, who is in the final weeks of a four-year contract with a salary cap hit of $6.1 million, had publicly campaigned to re-sign with the club.
“I want to be here,” Malkin said as recently as April 24. “I want to be part of the team next year, too. I want to be retired in Pittsburgh. But it’s not my choice. It’s Kyle’s decision. It’s (the) new owners (Hoffmann Family of Companies) probably too.”
Dubas, the Penguins’ president of hockey operations, was buoyant over the topic when asked about it April 12.
“We’ve had (discussions),” Dubas said. “Obviously, we had a great exit interview with Evgeni directly. Then, subsequently, we’ve had continued discussions with he and his representative, J.P. Barry. The season that he’s had, where we’re at, where we’re going, I don’t look at our younger players and think that they’ve done enough to have a view that he’s blocking anybody out in that regard.
“We would love to have him back. We just continue to work with J.P. on it. That’s as clear as I can be.”
A first-round selection (No. 2 overall) in the 2004 NHL Draft, Malkin has spent his entire 20-year career with the Penguins and is the club’s third-leading scorer all-time with 1,407 points (533 goals, 874 assists) in 1,269 games.
Malkin was a prominent component of the franchise’s three most recent Stanley Cup championship teams in 2009, 2016 and 2017.
The notion of Malkin potentially leaving as a free agent was not easy to digest for one of his teammates.
“I can’t see him not coming back,” forward Rickard Rakell said May 1. “I’ll put it that way. The other thing (Malkin signing elsewhere) hasn’t really come to my head yet. It probably won’t.
“So, he’s going to be back.”
With Malkin re-signed, the Penguins now have 16 remaining who are scheduled to become unrestricted or restricted free agents on July 1:
Unrestricted
Forwards – Noel Acciari, Rafael Harvey-Pinard, Kevin Hayes, Boko Imama, Joona Koppanen, Anthony Mantha
Defensemen – Sebastian Aho, Connor Clifton, Ryan Shea
Goaltenders – Taylor Gauthier, Stuart Skinner
Restricted
Forwards – Egor Chinakhov, Ville Koivunen
Defenseman – Alexander Alexeyev
Goaltenders – Joel Blomqvist, Arturs Silovs
