2022-23 Season in Review: Evgeni Malkin

Vitals

Player: Evgeni Malkin
Born: July 31, 1986 (Age 36 season)
Height: 6’ 3”
Weight: 195 pounds
Hometown: Magnitogorsk, Russia
Shoots: Left
Draft: 2004 NHL Draft, 1st round (2nd overall) by the Pittsburgh Penguins
2022-23 Statistics: 82 games played, 27 goals, 56 assists = 83 points
Contract Status: Three years remaining on a four year deal signed in July 2022 with a cap hit of $6.1 million per season.
Fun fact: This season marked the 15th time in 17 seasons that Malkin eclipsed the points per game mark.
Hidden Stat: After a stellar 2022-23 campaign, Malkin will once again be on milestone watch next season with 1,100 games, 500 goals, 800 assists, and 1,300 points all on the horizon.
History: 2021-22: 21% A, 57% B, 18% C; 2020-21: 4% A, 40% B, 43% C, 12% D; 2019-20: 91% A, 6% B.

Monthly Splits

via Yahoo!

Just a super consistent season across the board from Malkin. His best month in terms of points per game was in January but from beginning to end he posted big numbers all season long. He only exceeded five goals in a month one time but the assists numbers were there month in and month out including a season high 14 in March as the Penguins were fighting for a playoff spot.

Story of the Season

After a summer of uncertainty where we didn’t even know if Evgeni Malkin was going to a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2022-23, the Russian Bear silenced all the doubters with a full 82 game slate where he performed at just over a point per game pace and proved to everyone he was worth his new contract.

If there were any hurt feelings from contract negotiations they didn’t seem to effect Malkin on the ice in anyway. He trailed only Sidney Crosby in points and assists and finished fourth in goals behind Crosby, Jake Guentzel, and Rickard Rakell.

Malkin hit two milestones this season, playing in his 1,000th NHL games in November, becoming the second player in franchise history to hit that mark along with Crosby. In February, Malkin recorded his 1,200th career point, a number that places him third all-time in the Penguins record books.

Regular season 5v5 advanced stats

Data via Natural Stat Trick. Ranking is out of 16 forwards on the team who qualified by playing a minimum of 150 minutes.

Corsi For%: 52.4% (3rd)
Goals For%: 51.5% (8th)
xGF%: 56.3% (6th)
Scoring Chance %: 54.3% (7th)
High Danger Scoring Chance%: 56.4% (5th)
5v5 on-ice shooting%: 7.66% (7th)
On-ice save%: .915% (8th)
Goals/60: 0.8 (4th)
Assist/60: 1.55 (2nd)
Points/60: 2.35 (2nd)

Great season from Malkin when you look at his underlying numbers but that’s as expected when you see what he did on the ice. Still a great offensive producer even if he has taken a step back from his peak days. Very good numbers for a player who battled a serious knee injury but still came back and proved he has plenty left.

Charts n’at

He may not be in his prime anymore, but there is no arguing that Evgeni Malkin is still an outrageously good hockey player. Still generates offense at an elite level and playing alongside him is a huge benefit to his teammates.

For the most part, Malkin had Jason Zucker stapled to his side most of the season and it was mutually beneficial to both players and was likely the main reason Zucker had the season he did. On the other side, it was about an even split between Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust depending on what Mike Sullivan decided.

There is a significant uptick here in Malkin’s numbers when it comes to setting up goals. His 56 assists are proof of that and it shows what playing with guys like Jason Zucker and Rickard Rakell can do for an elite distributor like Malkin.

Malkin remains an elite offensive force in the game and his assist numbers this season rank among some of the best of his career. His finishing did take a slight hit this season so it makes you wonder what numbers he could have posted had more pucks gone in for him.

Generating the type of offense Malkin does when he’s on the ice is elite type stuff. When he’s on the ice, the offense generates more expected goals than even with Crosby. Numbers like these are what makes it easier to accept his frustrating moments.

Even if he were still playing on his old contract, Malkin would be still creating surplus value when compared to his production. Now on his new deal which pays him at $6.1 million per season, Malkin is a bigger bargain than he was in previous seasons.

Highlights

Bottom line

Many were wondering how many games Malkin could give at the age of 36 and still working his way back from major knee surgery just a year prior. Turns out he still has a lot to give, playing in all 82 games for the first time since 2008-09. Not only was he able to stay healthy, he proved he can still produce as well, finishing the season at over a point per game.

His 27 goals were the most since the 2017-18 season and his 56 assists tied for the fourth highest total of his career and his highest single season out put since 2011-12 when he was named league MVP. A sublime performance from a guy who many in Pittsburgh, including the front office, did not want to bring back.

Ideal 2023-24

As Malkin continues to age no one could blame you if you expected to see a decline in offensive production, but given what we saw from him at age 36, Malkin has set a bar of expectation that fans will want him to meet next season. It also makes sense for Malkin to have a similar bar set for himself that he expect to clear as well.

Malkin defied age and injury concerns in 2022-23, and there is no reason to expect him not to do the same next season. For the most part, the injury concerns are gone at least in relation to his knee and he still plays as if age is just a number. So long as the drive is still there, and it certainly seems to be, it doesn’t seem to be too much an ask for another repeat performance in 2023-24.