Malkin often in Crosby’s shadow

But Penguins’ pivot among NHL’s greats

Playing with Sidney Crosby his entire career, Evgeni Malkin’s greatness is often forgotten.

The 30-year-old Russian is reminding the hockey world again this season even as Crosby continues his rule over the sport. Malkin has overtaken his Pittsburgh Penguins counterpart in the NHL scoring race, tied for top spot with Edmonton Oilers prodigy Connor McDavid at 43 points apiece.

Malkin, who scored the overtime winner in the Penguins’ New Year’s Eve victory over Montreal, is on pace for his most prolific offensive season since the 2011-12 campaign when he won the Art Ross Trophy with 109 points, later capturing his first and only Hart Trophy as league MVP.

Though he’s not as celebrated as Crosby, Malkin’s career numbers are right there among the very best, despite the fact that he’s not played 70 games in a season since that MVP campaign.

Malkin’s 803 points trail only Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, and Joe Thornton since he entered the NHL in 2006, while he sits sixth in assists (492), and seventh in goals (311) over that span.

On a per-game basis Malkin ranks behind only Crosby in points, fourth in assists and fifth in goals.

Malkin, a two-time Stanley Cup winner and the 2009 Conn Smythe Trophy victor as playoff MVP, ranks third in total post-season goals over that same span (behind Crosby and Patrick Kane), and second in both assists and points, trailing only Crosby.

Stack Malkin up against the all-timers and he’s right there too, 14th in NHL history (minimum 500 games) with 1.18 points per-game, trailing only Crosby among active players.

SURPRISE LEADER

The current leader in even-strength points? Not Crosby or Malkin or even McDavid, but Columbus Blue Jackets 24-year-old winger Brandon Saad, who has 31 such points in 35 games this season.

SOPHOMORE LEAP

Patrik Laine and Mark Scheifele have attracted most of the Winnipeg spotlight, but Nikolaj Ehlers is having a pretty special sophomore season for the struggling Jets. Still just 20, Ehlers is producing at nearly a point per-game pace, with 31 points in 39 games while leading his team in five-on-five production on a per-minute basis.

The ninth overall pick of the 2015 draft has played much of the year with Laine and Scheifele and underlying numbers suggest both are far better off with him than without him.

Ehlers, a speedy, shifty and creative winger, ranks eighth in the NHL with 25 even-strength points and will soon surpass the 38 points he managed as a rookie last season.