Evgeni Malkin escapes Russia via Finland/Canada

Russian center Evgeni Malkin is enroute to Canada after he escaped from his team and Russian officials in Finland. Malkin's Russian team Metallurg Magnitogorsk is saying he took his belongings and passport after he and the team have been in Finland for training camp.

 

Spoke with NHL executive, they cannot comment on the validity of the report out of Russia but they want to emphasize, "We support Mr. Malkin's right to make personal choices."

 

Hopefully this is the start of an exudus and forces the RIHF to sign off on a transfer agreement.

 

Between the arena and Malkin situations, it's been a fucking crazy offseason to be a Pens fanboy looser.

 

Who gives a shit? Who are you? Get a blog.

 

I bet Big Baby Jesus is happy.

 

Somehow, I have a difficult time believing they are going to mesh well together.

 

I think they'll be golden. Malkin will center the 2nd line, whenever the hell he gets to Pittsburgh, and they'll likely only share time on the PP and in some doubleshifting instances. Pittsburgh needs all the talented players it can find. The offense is in bad enough shape that I can't see how either player would have a problem with the other.

 

Oh on paper, they definitely look like a superstar pair. I just wonder from the comment he made a few months ago whether he can handle sharing the spotlight. He said something like if he thinks Crosby is getting special attention just because he's Crosby, he'll tear up his contract and go home. Sounds like attitude issues from the get-go.

 

And the Penguins will still miss the playoffs.

 

If they've got to miss for another year or two to stock up on talented players, so be it. If they can find a way to keep the team together, they'll be pretty damn good at some point. There's talent there, just not nearly enough. But what little they do have is pretty damn good, obviously headlined by Crosby.

 

The Pens continue to miss the boat. It's not just that they need talenmt, they need guys who can actually play defence. They got nobody. As good as Marc-Andre Fleury is or will be, they'll burn him out if he continues to see 40 shots a game. He does not have the durability of a Luongo to survive that.