And the Penguins’ MVP is ...
Turned in stellar regular- season effort
Evgeni Malkin, coming off a subpar 2019, delivered when the Penguins needed him the most.
Evgeni Malkin came into training camp in September with the goal of recapturing his “highest level.”
“I can still play like a top player,” Malkin said in the preseason. “I want to show to everyone I’m not done.”
He did just that. On Sunday, the Penguins recognized their star center’s bounce- back season when they named him their team MVP for the 2019- 20 regular season.
It’s the fifth time Malkin has won the award, which is voted on by players. Only Mario Lemieux ( 12) and Sidney Crosby ( 8) have won the award more than Malkin.
In 55 regular season games, Malkin racked up 25 goals and 49 assists to lead the Penguins with 74 points. On a per- game basis, only five players in the league were more productive than Malkin, who posted 1.35 points per game.
Malkin did his best work in the regular season when the Penguins needed it most. In the 28 games that Crosby missed due to a core muscle injury, Malkin posted a team- best 38 points in the 26 games he played. That helped the Penguins not only survive the injury to Crosby, but thrive in spite of it, with an 18- 6- 4 record and league- best .714 points percentage.
Malkin also played some of his best two- way hockey in the regular season and made better decisions with the puck. He went from a minus25 rating in 2018- 19 to plus- 7. He also won 50.3% of his faceoffs, the best mark of his career.
However, Malkin’s lack of production after the NHL’s pause is part of the reason the Penguins didn’t enjoy an extended stay in the Toronto bubble. He tallied just one point in four playoff games, as the fifth- seeded Penguins were stunned by the No. 12seeded Canadiens in the qualifying round. It’s the second consecutive year the Penguins’ postseason run ended in four games.
Despite these early flameouts, Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford believes the window is still open to put a championship contender on the ice. He orchestrated a major trade that brought in Kasperi Kapanen in exchange for a 2020 first- round pick and prospect Filip Hallander.