Tanguay40 said:
Not that I really know, but I would guess that their number was taken on their league team. They were most likely the youngest player on their team, which basically means they get to pick their number from whatever is left over, usually.
Bingo.
Ovechkin's first choice has always been 8, Malkin's has always been 17, but both were taken when they joined their respective teams, and as rookies they don't have a say, so usually they just flip them(in Malkin's case) or give a random number.
Would have been weird if Malkin actually did wear #71, that would have to be the first time in history there would have been a battle on the same team for #71(Konstantin Koltsov currently wears it).
At the same time there's about 5 Pens prospects that wear #17...