As struggling Penguins inch toward fire sale, what happens to Evgeni Malkin?
This season has not gone according to plan for the Pittsburgh Penguins, who have failed to replicate the magic they found last season that saw them earn a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs despite extremely low pre-season expectations.
The Penguins find themselves in last place in the Eastern Conference with a record of 6-10-2, and reports are already emerging that president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas is preparing to sell even before the trade deadline as he looks to guide the franchise into a new era.
One player that could fetch a considerable return in a trade is franchise legend Evgeni Malkin, who is slated to be an unrestricted free agent after this season and has remained productive, racking up 16 points on 6 goals and 10 assists through 16 games played, but with Malkin being able to submit a list of three teams he would accept a trade to, giving him immense control over whether he stays or goes.
On Tuesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton were joined by NHL insider David Pagnotta to discuss whether or not Malkin could be one of the players Dubas looks to move in exchange for future assets ahead of the NHL trade deadline.
Carter Hutton: I start to think about future Hall of Famers in Pittsburgh. You start thinking about Malkin and Letang and the situation they’re in. What do you think that they do? Is there going to be a sell-off coming, and is everybody fair game outside of 87?
David Pagnotta: Well [Malkin]’s got a three-team trade list that’s due in January, and would you be surprised if that list includes, with due respect to these teams, Chicago, Vancouver, Philly? He’s got a full no-move without having a full no-move, effectively, because those teams probably won’t be trading for him. So I’m not expecting Geno to go anywhere, obviously 87 as well. I don’t even expect Letang to be considered as part of the mix, but you look at Malkin and what he’s been doing this season, this is what he wanted. He wanted to come in there, he’ll go one year by one year. If he can produce, he still wants to play, and well, he’s producing. Obviously we’ll see what determinations he comes up with later on, but he still wants to play, and my understanding is Pittsburgh is going to give these guys runway here as long as they’re producing.
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode below…
