Other: Malkin two years before UFA

[Til the End of Time]

Originally Posted by Eyes of Orpik

Let me ask you and everyone who thinks he will leave a question?

What has he done or said to hint that he wants out? It's all opinion and speculation by people that don't want him on the Penguins and you guys tell Penguins fans they're wrong for thinking Malkin will stay?

"I shouldn't make more money than Sidney Crosby".

"I hope they sign me, too".

"I want to stay in Pittsburgh"

"I like Penguins hockey, Penguins organization and fans".

What more do you guys need, he makes $8.7M, if he thinks he shouldn't make more than Crosby he will take that same amount of money. He's not a 2C, Him and Crosby are more like 1a and 1b centers. Malkin still gets quality minutes. As for wingers? He has the best winger on our team, a pretty good one in James Neal.

He has also said that he doesn't mind playing 2nd line center behind Crosby, he believes Crosby is a better player than him, he doesn't want the spotlight.

So... Why exactly should he want to leave again?

i think your missing the point.

like you say, everything malkin has ever said indicates he wants to stay in pittsburgh.

however, it is not unusual in professional sports for an athlete (even a character, stand up guy like malkin) to say all the right things, but when ultimately offered a huge amount of money (which the pens may be able to match), they end up leaving.

words, in this setting, can be worthless.

its annoying to see other fans say malkin should/will leave, but its equally annoying (to me at least) to hear pens fans guarantee hell resign in pittsburgh.

i dont think pens fans appreciate how lucky they are to have a guy like sid sign a great deal like he did. to have two such players sign such deals... that would be quite remarkable.

[Rowdy Roddy Peeper]

Originally Posted by Team_Spirit

Malkin is coming to the Habs for the most money possible under the new CBA.

Just like Mario and Sid.

[SEALBound]

Dream on other 29 NHL teams...Malkin belongs to Pittsburgh as much as any other star player belongs to your team...except for Nash...and Richards...and Carter...and Thorton...and Heatley...and Parise...and Suter...

Point being...Malkin is a Penguin. There is ZERO indication that he is even the slightest bit unhappy.

[NewtJorden]

I think he will sign an extension with Pittsburgh way before he reach free agency

[Rowdy Roddy Peeper]

There are no absolute guarantees in pro sports. But you have to at least provide plausible reasons for a player potentially wanting to change teams if you're going to wax about it.

With Staal, we knew he didn't have the scoring line opportunities or family members here that he'd have elsewhere, we just believed he'd overlook them. With Malkin, there's nothing for him to overlook because those lures simply aren't there. He has everything on the Pens aside from being THE "marquee name", which is a media construct more than anything. Geno is beloved in Pittsburgh.

Pretty bunk rationalization for a player potentially wanting to leave, but if you believe Malkin would take that route, go right ahead.

[Morozov]

People want to bring up that so many athletes "Say the right things" to dismiss Geno's comments, but I'm not even entirely sure Geno would know how to ******** his way around those sorts of topics if he wanted to even if he had an agent feeding through "all the right things" to him, he'd probably butcher it completely anyway.

I'm sure people will just try to dismiss this too, but he really does come across as one of the most face value athletes I've seen.