Evgeni Malkin Reportedly Won't Get New Contract with Penguins After 2025-26 NHL Season

Evgeni Malkin's future in the NHL is uncertain as the veteran mulls retirement, but he'll reportedly only play one more season with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Per The Athletic's Josh Yohe, Malkin, who has spent his entire career in Pittsburgh, will not get a new contract with the Penguins following the 2025-26 campaign.

Malkin will play the 2025-26 season on the final year of a four-year, $24.4 million contract and will earn $6.1 million. Whether Malkin, who will be 39 in July, will return for another season with a different team remains to be seen, but he's said in the past that he wants to retire in Pittsburgh.

"I love this city and I love these fans so much," Malkin said in 2022. "If this team wants new blood and young guys and they say to me to move on, we will see. ... I believe in my agent and I trust him. I want to stay here. I want to play in the NHL. ... I hope I stay here. I hope I retire here."

Drafted by the Penguins in 2004, Malkin made his debut for the team in 2006 and has known no other franchise. He's made seven All-Star appearances and won the Hart Memorial Trophy in 2012. He's also led the team to three Stanley Cup championships (2009, 2016, 2017), winning the Conn Smyth Trophy in 2009.

While Malkin, a two-time NHL scoring leader, has had an outstanding career with the Penguins, he's declined in recent years following two reconstructive surgeries on his knee. After appearing in 82 games and scoring 27 goals in both the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons, he missed 14 games this year and scored just 16 goals.

The Penguins are entering a new era under new head coach Dan Muse, and the team will also likely soon bid farewell to players like Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang, who are nearing the end of their careers. With Malkin already on his way out after the 2025-26 season, Pittsburgh will turn its attention toward younger stars in the coming years.

Though Malkin isn't the star he once was, he's more than capable of being productive in the NHL. Whether he'll choose to continue his career after the 2025-26 season or call it quits with the team that drafted him is the question.