In this ten-part series, I will be dissecting ten different careers thus far. The series is fully called “Players ages 28 and younger who will end up in the Hall of Fame.”  Feel free to argue a selection or the rankings at the end of the series.

With Alexander Ovechkin being taken first overall, no one expected there to be any problems with Evgeni Malkin being taken second overall—especially the Pittsburgh Penguins.  He was clearly an unbelievable player, even though he only scored 12 points in 34 games in Russia.  He had talent.

So when he decided to come over to the United States to sign a contract with the Penguins and play in the NHL, no one expected there to be any problems getting out of Russia.

Well, we all know how that turned out, right?

On August 7, 2006, Malkin signed a one-year contract with Metallurg, his Russian team, that would keep him in Russia until May 2007.  He then said that he only signed the deal because he was put under great pressure by the team to do so.  He expressed his desire to go to the USA to play NHL hockey, but the team did not allow that.

Geno left Metallurg’s training camp in Finland, and the team immediately confiscated his passport.  However, they returned it to him so that he could get through Finnish customs.  Malkin secretly met with his agent, the famous J.P. Barry, and Malkin snuck out of Russia, citing a Russian labor law that allowed players to leave a contract by giving their employer two weeks’ notice.

Malkin arrived in Pittsburgh as excited as the team was.  He immediately signed an entry-level contract with the Pens on September 5, 2006.  Evgeni Malkin was officially in the NHL.

Geno could not wait to get started in the NHL, as he became the first NHL rookie since the 1917-1918 season to score a goal in each of his first six games.  He also broke the NHL record for most consecutive games with a point by a Russian with fifteen.

In his first season, Malkin dominated, scoring 85 points in 78 games, and earning himself the Calder Memorial Trophy as the league’s rookie of the year.  He was the Penguins’ co-rookie of the year, along with Jordan Staal, and won NHL Rookie of the Month in October and November of 2006.

In his sophomore season, he did not show any signs of slumping, being elected to the All-Star game, the first All-Star team, and getting a Hart Memorial Trophy nomination for league MVP after scoring 106 points in 82 NHL games.  He was second in the league only to Alexander Ovechkin.

In International play, Malkin has played on the 2003 and 2004 World Junior U18 Championship teams, the 2004, 2005, and 2006 World Junior Championship teams, the 2005, 2006, and 2007 World Championship teams, and the 2006 Winter Olympics team, all for Russia.  He has won one gold, two silver, and one bronze medal in the World Juniors, and was named the tournament MVP in 2006.  He also won bronze medals at the Olympics and the IIHF World Championships.

Evgeni Malkin is an unbelievable hockey player, and has never averaged less than a point per game in the NHL.  He is clearly going to be a superstar in the NHL for many years to come. 

He showed this year that he can be a leader, as he led the Penguins to the playoffs after Sidney Crosby went down with a high ankle sprain for the majority of the second half of the season.  Malkin is one of the best players in the world right now, and will definitely be in the Hockey Hall of Fame when he retires in 13-15 years.


Previous entries in this series:

10. Jason Spezza
9. Henrik Lundqvist
8. Rick Nash
7. Dion Phaneuf
6. Henrik Zetterberg
5. Ilya Kovalchuk
4. Vinny Lecavalier