Malkin's Unique Legacy Defined by Humor and Heart

After the Penguins defeated Detroit in Game 3 of the 2009 Stanley Cup Final after losing the first two games, three players who had big nights - Evgeni Malkin, Sergei Gonchar, and Max Talbot - sat down together to speak with the media.
"Max Talbot comes there, and he is feeling good about himself," Gonchar said of the forward, who got the first goal along with an empty-netter at the end.
Then, Malkin was asked what he liked about Talbot's game.
"Lots of emotion, it never stops…" Malkin then paused, and said in his deep voice with a heavy Russian accent, "Little bit bad hands. He have lots of scoring chances, not score. Just empty net. It's okay. He learn in summer."

The room erupted into laughter, with his teammates on either side of him laughing the hardest of all.
"It's one of the first times that people can see when he opens up, he can make jokes. Even in the middle of the Stanley Cup Final," Gonchar said.
Malkin has always possessed an uncanny ability to know when to make guys laugh, and when to lighten the room. But at the same time, he knows when to be serious, too.
"He likes to poke fun at guys, but he's also really supportive. Like, he'll be the first guy to tap a guy or say hello to a guy," Sidney Crosby said. "He's got a big heart. I think that part you probably don't see as much, but there have definitely been lots of examples of that over the years."
That year, Malkin won both the regular-season and playoff scoring titles, becoming just the fifth NHL player to do so since the league's expansion. He was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as postseason MVP at 22 years old as the Penguins captured the Stanley Cup.
He is a generational talent who has won six individual NHL awards and three championships (2009, '16, '17) in his Hall of Fame career since being drafted second overall by Pittsburgh in 2004. Becoming the second player in Penguins history to reach 1,000 games played with the franchise is Malkin's latest accomplishment.
But for all of the plentiful on-ice achievements, his larger-than-life personality - his passion, his humor, his heart, and how all of that has made him the perfect complement to Crosby - is what makes Malkin's legacy so unique.
"Obviously to get to where he is and have the career he's had and be the type of player he's been, you got to have that competitive side, and you got to have that fire and that edge that kind of makes you that way on the ice," Bryan Rust said. "But then off the ice, it's kind of like the switch is flipped, and he's just a great guy.
"He likes joking around. He loves having fun. Things like that are the first things that come to mind when I think of him. That might not be the side of him that everyone sees. But I think he's just an awesome guy, awesome teammate, awesome friend."
When Malkin arrived in Pittsburgh for the first time in the fall of 2006,
after his dramatic departure from Russia
, he was both excited and anxious for what awaited him after landing - dinner at Mario Lemieux's house, with his fellow franchise center. "I was so nervous, I did not speak much English," Malkin said.
Fortunately, Gonchar accompanied him to the gathering. They actually knew each other from back home, as Gonchar had joined Malkin's hometown KHL team - Metallurg Magnitogorsk - during the 2004-05 NHL lockout, so there was already some familiarity there. "We were not close before, he was younger," Gonchar said. "But I knew of him, and I played with him for almost a full season. And I like the guy even before we become friends."
Obviously, there was a big language barrier for Malkin right from the start, but he was so fortunate to have a kind and patient person like Gonchar to help him navigate life in a new country. Gonchar opened up his home to Malkin, who modeled much of what he did after his friend and mentor. Even little details, like not talking to the media on game days, and sitting in the sixth row of the right side on the bus.
"He's such a great father figure, and that's exactly what Geno needed that at that time - a family," said George Birman, who has been part of the Penguins ticketing department since 1999 after immigrating to Pittsburgh from Ukraine, and is another big part of Malkin's support system.
"He doesn't speak English. He doesn't understand anything. He came after everything that happened. His parents are there, his friends are there. He absolutely could not communicate with them because he was afraid the calls will be tracked, and all that stuff. So, I think he's so lucky that we have not just a Russian player, but a Gonchar."
It's a testament to Malkin's character that despite everything he had gone through, and all of the challenges that he faced, what his teammates remember from those early days is how he might have been quiet … but always had that big toothy grin on his face.
"He was just great because he was always smiling and laughing. He was a little bit shy at the start, but one of the things where you can see his personality is the commercial," said Talbot, who was assigned to room with Malkin on the road in hopes that his own outgoing personality would help the rookie. "At that point he was like two or three years in the States, and just to be comfortable enough to do a stupid commercial like that speaks of his personality."
The commercial features their teammate Colby Armstrong picking up a new car at a local dealership, saying the staff took good care of him because of "who I am."
"You? Who are you? I thought they only took care of superstars, like me!" Talbot replies, before the camera angle widens to show Malkin standing next to Gonchar. "Guys, they treat everybody like a superstar," Gonchar says before tossing a set of keys to Malkin, who looks down at them and smirks.
From then on, Malkin's nickname for Talbot was 'Superstar.'
Watch: Youtube Video
Timing is everything in life, and Talbot believes that was certainly the case for Malkin. "We were lucky that we were all a young group, which made it fun. Gonch was kind of his dad, and he had all of us that were more of his brothers," Talbot said.
That group liked to go out on Pittsburgh's South Side whenever the schedule allowed, frequenting bars like Mario's and Diesel (now Foxtail). Talbot will always remember one Halloween where Malkin was delighted about taking part in a group costume with Crosby, Kris Letang and Jordan Staal, with the four of them dressing as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
"He was always out with the guys. Didn't speak much English, but was just trying to have fun, just smiling and being G," longtime teammate Marc-Andre Fleury said. "That's how I remember him best, that funny smile and just having fun with that group."
Malkin loved to chirp Fleury, just like he did with Talbot, and one of his best lines came when Fleury recorded his 300th career win. "My whole memories, every practice, I'm score 10 goals. Every practice," Malkin said. "Every shootout, I score on him. I don't know how he win 300. It's surprise to me."

Flower said that Geno's good-natured ribbing is what made practices so fun during their time together in Pittsburgh. "He comes down and shoots and scores and is like, 'I'm score!' Then he laughs and goes in the corner and celebrates, yelling, 'I'm best, I'm best!' from the corner," Flower said. "Just little stuff like that, I think it's contagious."
The more acclimated Malkin got, the more his hilarity started to shine through, and now, he's arguably the loudest guy on the team. Just ask anyone on the team plane, once Malkin sits down for the card game with Letang, Kasperi Kapanen and Jeff Carter.
"It doesn't matter what we do or how we play the hand or however it plays out - we're always wrong, and he's always yelling at us," Carter said. "In English and Russian, so half the time you don't know what he's saying, which probably makes it worse (laughs). But he's just a super fun guy to be around."
He really made a breakthrough in that regard after the 2009-10 season, which is when Gonchar signed with Ottawa, and Birman stopped coming to the locker room to translate Malkin's interviews. Those have become legendary not just among the fanbase, but his teammates as well.
"The quotes you guys run, like 'I am score,' 'I will be fire' - all of those are so good," Teddy Blueger said.
"He just has nofilter," Letang said. "It comes out raw and with that kind of broken English."

And it's not even necessarily always the interviews themselves. It's also how Malkin will goof around whenever there are cameras, like putting a puck between his teeth and posing for a picture, or photobombing his teammates; and the way he interacts with the media, most notably AT&T rinkside reporter Dan Potash. Those two are a treat to watch whenever they're going back-and-forth, as Malkin enjoys giving his buddy a hard time - "Go home, Potash!" - but also doesn't hesitate to tell Potash he loves him.
Malkin is constantly doing the same thing with teammates and staff behind closed doors. "His humor is funny. Joking around, making fun of everything," Letang said. Does he make fun of Kris? "Oh, yeah. He yells at me more."
For Crosby, it's not just what Malkin says - it's when he says it, and the spontaneity of it. "Sometimes he's just kind of sitting there quiet, and then he just goes on a quick little rant. I think it's more just the timing," Crosby said. "It's so great, that energy he brings."
Malkin may not be as vocal as some of the guys in certain situations, like on the bus - where he likes to listen to Russian music ahead of games - or in the room when it comes to conversations about fantasy football, for example, as there will always be a bit of a cultural divide on things like that. But he's always listening, and if a subject piques his interest - watch out.
"If you go out to dinner with him and stuff and you're talking about something, and he gets fired up about it - he'll just go on and on and on," Brian Dumoulin said. "You gotta catch him in stride at the right time, but when you do, you just put a quarter in him and watch him go. It's great."
While Blueger is from Latvia, he speaks fluent Russian, as it's his parents' native language. Being able to interact with Malkin in both his primary and secondary languages allows Blueger a rare perspective.
"He's just as funny in Russian as he is in English, just maybe in a little bit different way," Blueger said. "He gets the one-liners at dinner all the time. He's just very, very witty and clever."
That's something else people might not realize about Malkin, is just how intelligent he is.
"He wants to be a funny, easy, goofy guy," Birman said. "But the other side, with the books he's reading, and the TV show that he's watching … the history channels and everything … it's a completely different side. If you're going to sit with him and play the cards, and that goofball is gonna play, you know what? You're going to be losing so badly (laughs)."
Malkin has always been cognizant that he doesn't always express himself in English the same way that he could in Russian. But because of that, "you'll never get a cliché answer from him," said Jen Bullano Ridgley, Penguins senior vice president of communications, who's helped Geno in so many ways since his arrival in Pittsburgh.
"Every answer he gives is sincere. When their backs are against the wall, he knows that he needs to step up. Geno's never been one to shy away from placing blame on himself. He's never been one to be afraid to speak out, and say we're going to win the next game."
That's part of Malkin's own personal leadership style, which has grown a lot over the years. There's jokes about how Malkin knew guys by their numbers and not their names early in his career, which was something he actually told his teammates they should do for him. "He wanted us to call him 71," Letang recalled with a laugh, and Crosby said that's actually how Malkin introduced himself to everyone he met for his first year or so.
These days, Malkin likes to lean into it and have some fun in that regard, calling guys by his own special nickname (like dubbing James Neal 'Lazy'); the wrong name (he kept calling me Jack at first," Jake Guentzel laughed); or by their position.
"My first couple of call-ups, he called me Goalie," Tristan Jarry said. "Whenever something needed to happen or I needed to be in net, he'd just yell, 'Goalie!' And then over the next couple of progressions and me being called up and me being here more regularly, it got to just 'Jerry. Jerry, get in net.' Then it moved to Jarry. Now, it's Tristan. There's not many people that call me by my first name, but he's one of them.
"I think it's just his way of being funny. I'm positive he knows everyone's name and he knows how to say them. But I think that's just him being him and the light side of him, and just making a joke out of it all the time."
His teammates truly appreciate his honesty and authenticity, and how Geno is alwaysunapologetically himself. It may drive his coaches crazy sometimes, but it's what makes Malkin who he is.
"You see he wears his emotions on his sleeve a bit more," Rust said. "Obviously not all the time, but when he does get in the media or he does get in front of a camera or just when he's with us, he portrays his emotions well. I think he's a guy who cares a lot. I think over the course of the years that I've been here, I've noticed that G's got a big heart."
After Malkin won Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's scoring champion in 2009, he bought all of the guys nice ties from Nordstrom as a thank you, since they share those awards as a team. He asked Bullano Ridgley if she could help put the bags into all of their stalls, and then presented her with a box that was bigger than the rest.
"He's like, 'this one's for you.' He bought me a beautiful scarf that I wore to the awards that year with him," she said. "I remember thinking wow, that was really nice of him to include me. But then as the years went on, and you got to know him, you realize that he appreciates the staff around him - the equipment staff, the trainers, even the PR and travel staff. He gets it, and it's really nice."
A few years later, in 2012, Malkin won his second scoring title - along with the Hart Trophy (league MVP) and the Ted Lindsay Award (most outstanding player as voted by his peers) for the first time. While walking the red carpet with Bullano Ridgley at the NHL Awards in Vegas, Malkin showed her his phone, and said, "Is this a good word?"
The word was "dedicate."
"I said, 'yeah - do you know what it means?'" Bullano Ridgley said. "He's like, 'give?' I'm like, it means you give something to someone because they did something for you, or in honor of them. He's like, 'okay. I give Gonch Hart.' Then just keeps walking the red carpet (laughs). And I'm like, oh my God, that is so wonderful!"
Bullano Ridgley wrote "DEDICATE" in big letters on a notecard that Malkin kept in his suit coat in case he needed it, but he never took it out, instead speaking from the heart during his acceptance speech. At the time, Gonchar was driving home from Disney World in Florida with his daughter when people started calling and messaging to tell him what was happening.
"I'm like, oh, wow. I didn't expect any of it," Gonchar said. "It was shocking. Such a surprise. It meant a lot. That was so nice of him. What he's done for me has been very special, obviously. But I think besides that, not many people know that he is always helping people back home, he always gives money to people when they need it."
Watch: Youtube Video
Bullano Ridgley says Malkin's heart has grown about three sizes since he became a dad, with Evgeni and his wife Anna (Birman calls them 'the perfect match') welcoming their son Nikita during the 2016 Stanley Cup championship run. Evgeni has clearly always been a big kid at his core, but is even more so with Nikita - who is a mini version of his dad - around.
"I'm happy with how he turned out," Gonchar said. "He became a father, a husband and a great hockey player. I'm happy to see that he's still the same guy that loves to have fun and enjoys every moment in life. He hasn't changed much. That's what I like about him. I knew him when he was young. Now he's a superstar, but he's still the same guy with the same attitude."
"To me, he's the same Geno that came in (the league)," Crosby agreed. "Things around him change, circumstances change. He's a dad, things like that. But I still see him as Geno."
Malkin, now 36, grew up in Pittsburgh, which has truly been the perfect place for him. When the people who know Malkin best reflect on his time with the Penguins, what stands out the most is how he's always been completely content with his role alongside Crosby.
"The dynamic of him and Sid is perfect," Bullano Ridgley said. "They balance each other. They really do."
"It's two such high-profile players, but Geno is basically the No. 2 guy - and he loves it," Birman said.
On the ice, Crosby and Malkin have such been a formidable one-two punch for such a long time when they are both in the lineup. But what's really amazing about their relationship is that whenever one of them is injured, or simply struggling, the other one steps up to get the team through it.
Off the ice, Crosby has always been willing to handle many of the off-ice obligations that come with being players of their stature. He's given Malkin the space to do what he does best - just be his loud, entertaining, spirited self. Essentially, Sid and Geno are yin and yang - opposite but interconnected forces - and that's what's has helped this organization have such incredible success during their time together.
"They're challenging each other and they're pushing each other," Gonchar said. "They're helping each other. They complement each other."

Crosby is really grateful that their legacies are forever linked, and has so much respect and admiration for Malkin, saying he's like family to him. Crosby didn't want him to go anywhere this summer, as Malkin had been set to reach unrestricted free agency, and was super relieved when the feeling turned out to be mutual.
"For Geno to re-sign in Pitt spoke volumes of how much he loves it there, and how much that he loves Sid," Talbot said. "That's the thing he told me when we saw each other in the room in Montreal at the start of the season. He said, 'guys were calling me, saying stay, stay, stay.' You can really, really feel that's why he stayed."
And when it's all said and done, Malkin himself wants to be remembered as a good player, and a nice guy.
He's never wanted to have his name on anything, like when he quietly purchased everything on the Amazon wish lists for the Ronald McDonald House during the pandemic. But after signing his four-year contract extension, Malkin wanted to do something special for the community that's become his second hometown, working with Bullano Ridgley to come up with the "I'm Score for Kids" initiative benefiting the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Pittsburgh and Morgantown.
"He and I talked about how 'I'm score' was kind of like a nod to where he started," she said. "Because at first, he was like, I don't always like when people say 'I'm score' because it's like making fun of my bad English. I said to him, I think it's a nod to how far you've come. Now you can look back, and you can laugh on it."
His favorite thing to do )))