Pittsburgh Penguins Evgeni Malkin Out Indefinitely

The Pittsburgh Penguins announced Evgeni Malkin underwent surgery on his right knee, and he's expected to miss a significant amount of time. The team doesn't expect Malkin to be available for training camp come September and potentially could miss up to six months.

I see lots of people giving Malkin shit for being fragile. I’ll take the alternate route. He was playing on a very badly injured knee and perhaps risked the rest of his career to play in the playoffs. That says a lot about his character.
— Josh Yohe (@JoshYohe_PGH) June 5, 2021

The Penguins' center and the team's medical staff will take a wait and see approach and see how Malkin progresses during his rehab. The Russian star battled injuries all season and got nicked up at the worst time as he missed playoff games against the New York Islanders. Hoping to hit the reset button, Malkin and the Penguins are going to look to build off their regular season success and remind themselves they can be an elite team. Malkin along with his line mates Jason Zucker and Kasperi Kapanen are going to play a major role in anything Pittsburgh's able to accomplish.

In 2020-21 the 34-year-old pivot scored eight goals and added 20 assists in 33 regular-season games and chipped in five points in the four playoff games he appeared in. Malkin hopes to return to 100% next season and continue his legacy with the Penguins. General manager Ron Hextall recently committed to the core of the team and it's expected Malkin signs one more contract extension in Pittsburgh. For now, it's rehabbing his knee he's worried about.