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Is Evgeni Malkin unhappy with the Pittsburgh Penguins?

Is Evgeni Malkin unhappy with the Pittsburgh Penguins?

Evgeni Malkin is unhappy? Evgeni Malkin may want out of Pittsburgh?

Wait … what???

Well, it’s not quite that cut and dry, but there was some interesting news regarding the former Hart Trophy/Conn Smythe Trophy/Art Ross Trophy winner Friday.

The epicenter started with Elliotte Friedman’s conversation on Sportsnet 960 in Calgary:

“They’re not trading Crosby. But I will tell you this, there have been rumors about Malkin’s happiness. About whether or not he wants to stay. I think that was directed exactly at them. I have no idea if the Penguins are going to trade Malkin, I would suspect no until a sale gets done. But I can tell you this, there are people around the league who have been saying they’ve been hearing rumors Malkin is not happy and would welcome a change of scenery.

Whenever a superstar’s name is mentioned as potentially wanting to leave his organization, that causes mega shockwaves around the NHL.

GOOOO. Scary times for Pittsburgh fans, right? Not so fast.

Friedman did reference that he didn’t know if it was just a “frustration thing” with Malkin, as to whether he wanted out.

Friedman again said it wasn’t going to happen while the team was for sale, mostly because the Pens are way more valuable with Malkin and Crosby in the lineup from a monetary perspective. So there are obviously a lot of parts to the story still.

But look, add it up with Malkin. Even though the Penguins lavished him with a $9.5 million salary cap hit (or average per-year contract) in 2013, they traded his trigger man, James Neal last offseason to Nashville. Though Neal had fallen out of favor with the Penguins at the time, 40-goal scorers don’t grow on trees. Especially 40 goal scorers who make $5 million dollars per-year in their late 20s.

And in return, they got Patric Hornqvist and Nick Spaling, nice pieces, but not star goal scorers. Blake Comeau was one of Malkin’s wingers during the year.

I repeat, Blake Comeau was Malkin’s winger.

Pittsburgh has issues. This is a team in the middle of an identity crisis.

Malkin is still only 28 and captain Sidney Crosby is just 27. The championship window is still there. But management has made some ‘meh’ moves recently. From the Neal trade to dealing defenseman Simon Despres for Ben Lovejoy.

Does it want to be an offensive juggernaut? Does it want to play more defensively? Is it tough enough? Is it not? Nobody seems to know and nobody seems to get how to fix this group, which hasn’t made a Stanley Cup Final since 2009.

Then again, maybe Malkin isn’t unhappy. Why? Because he caught a massive fish Friday.

Photo via Pittsburgh Penguins on Twitter
Photo via Pittsburgh Penguins on Twitter

Life totally blows for Malkin right now … obviously.

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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