What's wrong with Malkin?

[DitchMarner]

View attachment 945556
One letter could have changed it all...

So he's expired Malk in Pittsburgh?

 

[Duffy13]

Lets see, Crosby gets Rust and Rakell, and when he was playing terrible they moved Geno up to his line to get Sid going.... Geno gets Bunting, Tomasino, O'Connor, and when he starts to play terrible, which coincided to being dropped back to line 2 with lesser teammates, they don't do anything, except talk about trading for slugs like hoglander and other reclamation projects to mix on his line.

Crosby is going to continue to get Rakell and Rust, Rust is very mediocre and lazy af, but is opportunistic so will get his points, the heavy lifting that Rakell is doing for the top 2 lines is pretty amazing, Crosby and Malkin play leagues better with Rakell on their line. the only linemates that Malkin has shown he can have decent results with, that does not include Rakell, is a small sample size of Glass, Malkin, Tomasino, and Tomasino will crash back to earth here soon, if it hasn't happened already. Bunting needs to play with a line of Bunting, Lizotte, ,Puljujarvi, and the forth line can just go away forever.

short answer is Coaching, this teams issue is coaching

 

[Reindl87]

He is 38 on a bad NHL team and his national team won`t be competing anymore during his career.
He has absolutely zero to play or care for. What do you expect?

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

He's old, pretty much all there is to it. The decline is harsh when you hit your late 30s. Only one player in history has hit 80 points in their age 38 season (Oates). Malkin is on pace for 65 or so, pretty much what you can expect.

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

I think he tore his motivator cuff around that 10th game, when he was playing outta his mind but his team still sucked.

 

[BallardEra]

He has absolutely zero to play or care for. What do you expect?

This isn't true. His team has missed the playoffs two straight seasons and he has that to play for.

 

[Ghost of Murph]

Age doesn't have as much to do with it as linemates/team in Malkin's case.

 

[TheGoldenJet]

He started the season with 11 points in his first 5 games.

Since then he has 4 goals and 10 assists in 27 games with a -13.

Is this a slump or the start of a decline?

His linemates during his hot start were Bunting and Rakell. Not great, but solid top 6 guys.

Since then, he’s been playing with a mix of O’Connor/Tomasino/Glass. Bottom 6 fodder.

Pens have stacked Crosby’s line, and the rest of the team has suffered.

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

This isn't true. His team has missed the playoffs two straight seasons and he has that to play for.

Any talk about Malkin being unmotivated is baseless nonsense. He's 38 and playing with some combo of Bunting, O'Connor, and Tomasino, exactly nobody's idea of good top 6 players.

Last year, Ovechkin put up virtually the same p/g with much better linemates. What was his excuse?

 

[Rodgerwilco]

The guy is 38 years old playing for a weak team. What do you expect? Lol.

 

[Duffy13]

Also Sullivan won't alter his gameplan at home, he will never try to make adjustments where Crosby or Malkin are on the ice vs other teams 3rd or 4th line. 1st and 2nd line head to head every game home or away.

 

[NYRfan85]

Father Time paid him a visit, the Penguins suck, and he's already won multiple Cups.

 

[winnipegger]

I had a really physical job from 18 to 30 years old. Basically an industrial athlete. By the time I was 30 I was significantly slower and knew I had to retire. I don't know how some players keep the fire going until they are 40. Give Malkin a break he probably limps around for half an hour in the morning until he warms up.

 

[Hockey4Lyfe]

Dude has won 3 cups and been there 4 times. 38 years old.

Why don't we let some of these legends of the game age out gracefully and stop making stupid ass threads asking why they aren't putting up the same numbers they did when they were 25?

 

[Rodgerwilco]

Dude has won 3 cups and been there 4 times. 38 years old.

Why don't we let some of these legends of the game age out gracefully and stop making stupid ass threads asking why they aren't putting up the same numbers they did when they were 25?

Pretty obvious dunk thread. I don’t get what’s confusing about a 38 year old dude on a bad team not producing a lot of points.

 

[BallardEra]

People are way too sensitive. Dunk thread? Blah blah blah.

I don't watch Pens games and was wondering why he started so well and faded.

People don't have to post in every thread that they don't like.