Twenty three year old Evgeni Malkin has been a star in the NHL from the moment he stepped on the ice. He was a point a game player and Calder trophy winner as a rookie.
The last two years when Sidney Crosby has been hurt, it's been Malkin who has taken up the slack and lead the team. He won the league scoring title last year. He was the leading scorer in the playoffs and won the Conn Smythe trophy as the most valuable player in the playoffs for a Penguin team that won the Stanley Cup.
This year he hasn't quite seemed the same. This is his first season in the league where he hasn't managed to score at least 30 goals. He's been hurt off and on and a banged up shoulder in October has contributed to him only playing 67 games and probably accounts for his reduced goal and point production.
His point per game production is down significantly from last year. Aside from that he hasn't looked like the same dominant player he proved himself to be when Crosby went down for a large portion of the 2007/08 season.
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Article written by Scott Weldon