By Shelly Anderson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/
Matt Freed/Post-Gazette
Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin on the Stanley Cup, "I have 10 fingers on my hands, and I want to win 10 times."
Evgeni Malkin wants more. A lot more.
The Penguins' prolific center thinks about piling up the trophies every time he looks at his hands. It has nothing to do with how soft those big paws are on shots or passes.
He just sees possibilities that make the team's successful Stanley Cup run last season one to grow on.
"That was last year," Malkin said this week as training camp got under way. "I want to win one more time, two, three more times. I have 10 fingers on my hands, and I want to win 10 times. Why not?
"I want to win a couple more trophies, a Hart Trophy. We have a good chance to win. Why not? We're young kids."
In helping the Penguins win the Stanley Cup, Malkin won the Art Ross Trophy as the regular-season scoring champion with 113 points and the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP after finishing third in the postseason with 36 points in 24 games. He finished second to Washington's Alex Ovechkin in voting for the Hart Trophy as regular-season MVP.
Malkin, 23, will have to wait -- likely until Friday, when the Penguins have an exhibition game at home against Toronto -- to make his preseason debut. He was not in the lineup last night for the Penguins' 5-4 overtime win against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Mellon Arena.
Despite a short summer, he got all of his celebrating and resting out of the way after he returned to his native Magnitogorsk, Russia. He vacationed in Spain with friends -- "Beaches and good water and good weather," he said -- and had his day with the Cup, taking it to his former hockey school and skating with it with his former Russian pro team, Metallurg.
"People were happy," Malkin said.
"It was a good summer, and I am ready" for the season to start again.
Malkin has seemed to find a steady left winger in Ruslan Fedotenko but is breaking in a new right winger this fall. Sniper Petr Sykora, who was not re-signed, had settled in fairly well on that line last season before injuries and lack of production got him bumped in favor of Max Talbot, whose tenacity and knack for big goals made a good fit.
Talbot, though, is out until November or December after offseason shoulder surgery.
For now, speedy Tyler Kennedy, a fixture much of last season on the third line centered by Jordan Staal, is auditioning for a spot with Malkin and Fedotenko.
"I like playing with Tyler," Malkin said. "He plays real well."
No matter whom he plays with, Malkin will be trying to top his career-best totals in points and assists (78, tops in the league) from last year. His 35 goals were 12 below his number from 2007-08, his second season in the NHL.
Fedotenko, who has won Stanley Cups with the Penguins and Tampa Bay, sees most of the room for improvement with Malkin in consistency.
"At times, he is an unbelievable player," Fedotenko said. "Some teams play him tougher and he just finds a way to get through [traffic]. If he can elevate his game to perform like that every game, you can't ask for any better than that.
"I've played with a lot of great players -- Vinny Levacalier, Marty St. Louis, Brad Richards, Keith Primeau in his prime, Simon Gagne. I've been lucky I've played with great players, but I feel like he's unique and he's in his own group."
Although his English keeps improving, Malkin said having Russian as a common language with Fedotenko continues to help their chemistry.
Malkin has taken a stab at teaching a few teammates some Russian, including the team's other star center, Sidney Crosby, Talbot and defenseman Brooks Orpik.
"Just bad words," Malkin said. "It's just joking."
Malkin's transition back to Pittsburgh this season has been a bit difficult because he returned to a house he bought in the area midway through last season and is not used to being in a big home by himself.
He lived with defenseman Sergei Gonchar his first 21/2 seasons, and his parents spent much of the second half of last season and the playoffs visiting.
His parents, who became minor celebrities from their seats in the stands, could be coming in time for the regular-season opener Oct. 2 at home against the New York Islanders, Malkin said.
That's if they can work out a detail.
"There's a small problem with my big dog," Malkin said, adding that he wants them to bring the dog, but the paperwork is extensive because of the pet's size.
He doesn't know the English word for the breed.
There is one place Malkin is ever more comfortable-- with his teammates at the rink, especially after the Penguins' roster stayed relatively intact over the summer.
"Ray [Shero, the general manager] did a good job," Malkin said. "Good players stayed on the team. We have more experience. We didn't change a lot of players. That's good for the team."
NOTES -- Penguins winger Chris Kunitz scored 44 seconds into overtime. ... Penguins center Sidney Crosby scored two goals in the third period, both from the right corner of the net, the first of them on a power play, with winger Eric Tangradi getting the first assist on both. Kunitz and winger Chris Conner also scored in the third. ... Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury gave up power-play goals to Jakub Voracek and Maksim Mayorov and a short-side goal to Mayorov over the first two periods before Brad Thiessen gave up a goal by winger Alexandre Picard in the third. ... In a first-period battle of defensemen, the Penguins' Deryk Engelland dropped Columbus' Doug Lynch with a series of big rights. ... Attendance was 15,766. ... One of the referees was Stephen Walkom, of Moon, who stepped down as NHL vice president of officiating so he could return to the ice.
Shelly Anderson can be reached at shanderson@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1721.
First published on September 16, 2009 at 12:00 am
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