Evgeni Malkin ā an all-time underappreciated superstar
Joe Starkey | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | March 6, 2019
Itās Milestone Week around here. Matt Cullen played his 1,500th game Tuesday. Sidney Crosby notched his 1,200th point.
Evgeni Malkin is nextāand not for barely missing a hat trick of offensive-zone tripping penalties Tuesday. This is no time to focus on Genoās bad habits. Or on what has admittedly been a subpar season (so far, anyway).
Rather, with Malkin just four points shy of 1,000, itās the perfect time to celebrate one of the under-appreciated superstars in Pittsburgh sports history. And to consider his place in hockeyās pantheon.
Iām guessing we can do better than the 58 voters who embarrassingly excluded Malkin in choosing the NHLās Top 100 all-time players two years ago.
Letās set aside the three Stanley Cups, the Hart Trophy and the Conn Smythe and use a simple statistic: points per game. Iām sure thereās a fancier stat for measuring offensive production, but there cannot be a better one.
Have you ever looked at the all-time list and considered Malkinās place on it? Itās mind-blowing, mostly because of the names just behind him.
Malkin has averaged 1.18 points per game over his 13-year careerāall in the dead-puck era. That puts him 14th all-time and second to Crosby among active players. The only players ahead of Malkin who did not play in the two highest-scoring decades (1970s, ā80s) are Crosby and Peter Forsberg.
The story, however, is whoās directly behind him.
Jean Beliveau and Jaromir Jagr are behind him. Steve Yzerman and Alex Ovechkin and Pavel Bure and Bobby Hull and Gordie Howe are behind him, too. So are Gilbert Perreault, Pat LaFontaine, Eric Lindros and Mark Messier.
In fact, you will find 16 consecutive Hall of Famers just behind Malkin on that list. Which is to say, 14 already in, plus Ovechkin and Jagr.
Iām thinking about all of that as the Columbus Blue Jackets come to town for the first of a back-to-back set. But Iām also thinking of how Malkin has endeared himself to this city and performed one of the great second-fiddle acts in sports.
The best comparable might be Scottie Pippen, a superstar in his own rightāa Top 50 NBA playerābut one who was mostly content winning championships in Michael Jordanās immense shadow.
Malkin has always thrived in Crosbyās shadow, largely free of the media glare Crosby absorbs so adroitly.
Itās not always this way with superstars. Alpha males naturally want to lead the pack. Kyrie Irving wanted his own team after a few years with LeBron James. Mr. Big Chest (Antonio Brown) couldnāt stand the fact that no matter what he did, at least one player (Ben Roethlisberger) was always going to be the bigger and better-paid star.
Iām thinking, too, of how Malkin has grown up here. How he picks his spots to talk and often speaks the bluntest of truths. He always has the pulse of the team.
I think of his big-game acumen and the fact he is second among active players in postseason points per gameābehind Crosbyāand just behind the likes of Phil Esposito, Guy LaFleur and Toe Blake, for goodness sake.
And how, even in a ābad year,ā he has 66 points in 60 games with the biggest ones dead ahead.
Ovechkin was the prize of the 2004 NHL Draft. A generational talent the Penguins were going to miss out on. The joke was that they were so bad, they couldnāt even win the draft lottery.
But as draft day approached, several unbiased observers told me they believed Malkin would at least be Ovechkinās equal.
Then-New Jersey Devils scouting director David Conte put it this way: ā(Malkin) is an exceptional talent, and itās not unreasonable to think the guy who goes second could be better than the guy who goes first.ā
We could debate for days if that is in fact what happened. This much is indisputable: Evgeni Malkin is a civic treasure, not to mention one of the most talented and productive players in the history of the game.
Iām not sure we talk about that enough.
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