Malkin and Penguins will work to get a deal done
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet joined the SiriusXM NHL Network Radio Morning Skate with Scott Laughlin and Gord Stellick and was asked about how things could play out in Pittsburgh with Evgeni Malkin and the Penguins. Friedman believes there is no need to panic.
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
Scott Laughlin: “So, whether it’s TV or radio, we might be playing tiddlywinks coming up on July 1st, but I mentioned that Evgeni Malkin says he wants to return to Pittsburgh. Kyle Dubas is saying all the right things that he wants to have him back.
Business is going to take over at some point here. No doubt he’s got a little bit more leverage, because the market is so thin out there, Friedge. You just wonder, where do you think things ultimately are going to go with Evgeni Malkin.”
Elliotte Friedman: “I didn’t hear anything yesterday that concerned me that it wasn’t going to get done. I’ve covered Dubas enough to understand some of his buzzwords and the way he speaks. And there was nothing yesterday that told me that couldn’t be possible.
A Decision on Evegni Malkin Could Come Fast for the Pittsburgh Penguins
I thought the most interesting thing he said was that Malkin is not blocking anybody, because I hear that a lot now. Like a lot of teams talk about that. Montreal is big into that. They’ve got a lot of young players, and they’re always worried about if they acquire someone, are they going to block a young player who’s ready? So to me, that was actually the biggest tell that it’s going to happen.
I do think that the other thing that I believe Dubas has talked about a bit is that he’s mentioned, and one of the Pittsburgh writers pointed this out. Think it was Josh Yohe, and I looked it up. Whenever, kind of Dubas talks about Malkin, he talks about how many games he missed this year. I think he missed, he had an injury, and he got suspended once.
And also, the other thing I’ve heard they have talked about is that he moved from center to wing this year, and he was effective. So I think that there’s probably some conversation about what his role is. Do they rest him? Things like that. But there was nothing there that screamed to me, five-alarm blaze. This can’t get done.”
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