The 34-year-old alternate captain was arguably Pittsburgh's most consistent player all season, finishing with 74 points (25G-49A) in 55 games. Despite missing 14 of Pittsburgh's 69 games this season, Malkin finished 14th in the NHL in scoring while his 1.35 points-per-game average was tied for sixth-best in the league. His 0.89 assists per game (49 assists in 55 games) ranked fourth in the NHL behind Connor McDavid (0.98), Leon Draisaitl (0.94) and Artemi Panarin (0.91).
A constant theme to the Penguins' season was the team's inability to stay healthy as their 302 man-games lost were fourth-most in the NHL. However, it seemed that when some of Pittsburgh's best players were out of the lineup, Malkin did his best work. He was downright dominant in the 28 games that Crosby missed due to a core muscle injury from Nov. 12-Jan. 12, as he had a team-best 38 points (11G-27A) in the 26 games he played, helping the Penguins to an 18-6-4 record and league-best .714 points percentage during that span.
Malkin hit the 20-goal plateau for the seventh-straight year, and 12th time overall, tying him with Sidney Crosby and Mario Lemieux for the most 20-goal seasons in franchise history. He also became the fourth active, and 31st player in NHL history, to have 11 or more seasons with 70-plus points when he registered his 70th point on March 7 against Washington. Only Lemieux (12) has more 70-point campaigns in franchise history than Malkin's 11.
Malkin's season was also filled with milestones as he continues to climb the NHL all-time ranks. His most prominent milestone was when he scored his 400th career goal on Dec. 17 at Calgary. In doing so, he became the fourth Penguin, and 99th player in NHL history, to score 400-plus goals. Of those 99 players, 52 of them are enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame, and another 14 are still active players or have not yet been out of the NHL long enough to be eligible to be elected.
