Malkin Practices with Full Contact

Evgeni Malkin is getting closer and closer.
He practiced with full contact on Wednesday at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex, another huge step in his recovery from a lower-body injury that has kept him out of the lineup for the past 21 games.

"Very excited for him to come back," Kasperi Kapanen said. "Hopefully it's soon."
Penguins president of hockey operations Brian Burke said there is a "really good chance" that Malkin will return to the lineup during the team's upcoming road trip to Washington and Philadelphia, but that it all comes down to his comfort level.
"If he has any discomfort, then he's going to tell a trainer he can't go," Burke told broadcaster Josh Getzoff in tonight's episode of the GM Show. "But he's cleared medically, provided he doesn't feel any discomfort. He'll be cleared medically on this trip for sure."
Penguins Podcasts: Penguins Radio Network
·
GM Show: 04.28.21 with Brian Burke | Pittsburgh Penguins
Meanwhile, Frederick Gaudreau - who has missed the last seven games with a lower-body injury - also practiced with full contact and said he's feeling better and better every day.
"It for sure feels good to be back," Gaudreau said. "It's never fun to get injured. It was good to see the team having success, but obviously you feel like you would like to be on the ice as well. But overall, (the recovery) is going well, and it's good to be back on the ice."
And finally, Brandon Tanev (upper-body, 11 games missed) skated with the taxi squad this morning, which means all three players are making encouraging progress.
"They'll all travel with us," head coach Mike Sullivan said before the team departed for their four-game road trip with stops in Washington and Philadelphia.
During practice, Gaudreau centered Colton Sceviour and Evan Rodrigues on the fourth line during rushes, while Malkin skated on an extra line with Mark Jankowski and Sam Lafferty.
When the Penguins worked on special teams, Gaudreau practiced on the penalty kill while Malkin took a couple of reps with the first power-play unit, slotting in for Jared McCann, who leads the Penguins with seven man-advantage goals.
Whenever Malkin does return, the coaching staff will have to figure out how to best disseminate their power-play personnel across both units. They will have plenty of options, which is a good problem to have.
"We'll make that decision when the time comes," Sullivan said. "But right now, we like the way the power play's operating. When Geno does come back into our lineup, then obviously it gives us more options to do different things with the groups that we have."
That applies to not just the power play, but all situations, as Malkin will restore the team's center depth and allow players like Jeff Carter to move around the lineup as needed.
"Jeff Carter does a lot of other things for us, too," Burke said. "He's 6-4, he can skate, he can play right wing. He's taken a lot of faceoffs for us, especially on the PK now. So he's a multi-dimensional player that gives Sully multiple options. Put him on the wall, put him in the middle, move guys around. So I think the versatility it gives our lineup is a critical thing. We'll see what happens, but I think Geno is going to come back on this trip, and then we'll see what Sully decides to do."
While the Penguins have played some good hockey in Malkin's absence, his teammates, coaches and management cannot wait to get a player of his caliber back into the lineup. The generational talent is a difference-maker, and the Penguins are a better team when Malkin is playing.
"The fact of the matter is, before he got hurt, he was playing some unbelievable hockey," Burke said. "Like, the best I've seen in a couple of years. So this is a key guy for us. We need to get him back. And then we'll figure out the rest of the lineup situations as we go down that road."
For now, this is the workflow that Sullivan went with. He adjusted the lines in the third period of Tuesday's 3-1 loss to Boston, flipping Kapanen and Jason Zucker, and stuck with those combinations at today's practice:
Guentzel-Crosby-Rust
McCann-Carter-Kapanen
Aston-Reese-Blueger-Zucker
Sceviour-Gaudreau-Rodrigues
Jankowski-Malkin-Lafferty
Dumoulin-Letang
Matheson-Ceci
Pettersson-Marino
Riikola-Ruhwedel