Tuesday, January 15th, 2008 by Adam Wagner
Malkin’s snub is very annoying
The Penguins are sending four players to Atlanta on January 26, with Kris Letang and Tyler Kennedy playing in the YoungStars Game and Sidney Crosby and Sergei Gonchar set to play in the All-Star Game. Evgeni Malkin’s name, however, is absent from that list and Malkin and the Penguins are understandably perturbed by this development.
Malkin is the best sophomore player in the NHL, with only Anze Kopitar challenging him for the title. Kopitar has 18 goals, 24 assists, 42 points, and is at a -12 right now. He is an All-Star. By comparison, Malkin has 23 goals, including two hat tricks in the last six games, 29 assists, and a +5 rating. Both players have 8 power play goals. Now, the argument could be made that Malkin, on a line with Sidney Crosby much of the time, is a byproduct of more talented teammates. Kopitar’s offensive ‘mates with the Kings, however, are not to be sloughed off. The line of Dustin Brown-Kopitar-Patrick O’Sullivan is one of the most talented young lines in hockey. If Kopitar is an All-Star on that line and Malkin is not with his increased production, the NHL is probably still being run by Gary Bettman just insane.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Malkin was tied for 13th in goals and 13th in points. He is undoubtedly the second-most (or third, depending on how you view Ty “Everytime I say his name I knock on wood” Conklin) important Penguin, next to Sidney Crosby. If he went down, the team and its playoff hopes would undoubtedly be in major trouble if only because he is the best pure goal scorer on the team (as Pens’ announcers love pointing out).
More importantly to the future of the game, Malkin is an extremely marketable figure if only because of his affiliation with the Penguins and Sidney Crosby. The NHL needs the Penguins to be good if it wants to be a successful organization because Crosby is the only current player with the potential to be the type of crossover star that Dwayne Wade and LeBron James have been for the NBA. Malkin is integral to that, as a casual viewer may turn on the NHL Finals and leave them on if the Penguins and Crosby are in the game as opposed to the Devils and Martin Brodeur.
That is not to suggest that Malkin is not a star in his own light, however, as he went for a hat trick last night, citing his being bypassed for Marc Savard in the Who Will Take Dany Heatley’s Spot Sweepstakes (fewer points, does not play for the most important team in hockey, is an assist guy) as being a cause of his rampage against the Rangers. As long as the Penguins can keep Malkin angry, they should be just fine.
After all, he is already an All-Star caliber player.
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