Penguins’ Dubas on Malkin: ‘We would love to have him back’

The Pittsburgh Penguins just saw their big three of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang set a record by playing their 20th season as a trio, helping to lead the club to a surprising bid in the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the process.

Crosby and Letang are both under contract to return to the roster next season, but Malkin is not. At the outset of the year, Josh Yohe of The Athletic reported that the Penguins would not offer Malkin a contract extension and that the 2025-26 campaign would be his last in Pittsburgh.

Malkin’s strong season constituted a return to form, as the imposing Russian put up 61 points in 56 games, which changes the calculus for Kyle Dubas as he goes about piecing together the 2026-27 roster.

“We had a great exit interview with Evgeni directly, and great conversations with him and his agent J.P. Barry,” Dubas said Tuesday. “So we would love to have him back, and we continue to work with J.P. on it.”

After the Penguins lost to their rival Philadelphia Flyers in the first round, Malkin’s future was one of the topics on players’ minds as they headed into the off-season.

“I can’t see him not being back,” Rickard Rakell said. “He’ll be back.

“I love Geno,” Bryan Rust added. “I don’t know life in the NHL without him.”

Malkin just wrapped up a four-year contract that carried a salary cap hit of $6.1 million per year. Any deal to return to the Steel City would quite likely require Malkin to take a pay cut.

When Malkin spoke at locker clean-out day, he expressed an openness to signing with another NHL team, rather than return to Russia or retire, if a deal with Pittsburgh did not materialize.

In a once-loaded free agent class that was nearly entirely wiped out by numerous star players signing extensions with their current teams, made possible by a drastic rise in the salary cap, Malkin is now one of the more productive players set to hit the market on July 1.