The inherent nature of the center position means the New Jersey Devils will have scarce options to improve their depth in free agency, but there's one player who stands out above the rest, even at his advanced age.
Pittsburgh Penguins star Evgeni Malkin, a player with 72 points in 75 career games against the Devils, is set to become a free agent this summer, with Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas and the front office dragging their feet on a potential contract extension.
Malkin, 39, will turn 40 before the 2026-27 season starts, and he recently publicly stated that he wants to play one more season in the NHL, and it does not necessarily have to be with the Penguins.
If Dubas and the Penguins want to continue to get younger and retool on the fly as they have been, Malkin, at his age, obviously isn't a fit, even though he just scored 61 points in 56 games this season.
The Russian dynamo just scored two goals and three points for the Penguins in a six-game, Round 1 defeat at the hands of the Philadelphia Flyers in Round 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and he's clearly still an effective player.
In New Jersey, the Devils gave the Evgenii Dadonov mentorship experiment a try in free agency last summer, with Arseny Gritsyuk making his NHL debut this year, but that failed miserably. Malkin, who is currently still a good player and a former great of the game, will likely have a falloff less steep than his fellow countryman.
The Devils might find their center depth solution in free agency
And, while Malkin has only played 114 regular-season games over the last two seasons, he's a high-skill complement to Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes, who a.) shouldn't cost the Devils a lot of money and b.) should be preserved enough to play a bigger role if and when needed.
For example, if Hughes went down with an injury, I think everyone would feel comfortable with Malkin stepping in as the No. 2 center for a period of time.
For the 39-year-old, there should be plenty of opportunity on the power play on both units, and, if paired with Gritsyuk, he will have no problem playing and producing at 5-on-5. Ultimately, it comes down to whether Malkin wants to stay close to Pittsburgh and whether or not he feels the Devils give him the best chance to win one last Stanley Cup.
Other popular clubs that have been floated as fits include the Florida Panthers, who were said to have been interested in Malkin after Aleksander Barkov went down with a season-ending knee injury, and the Washington Capitals, who may be having one last dance with Alex Ovechkin next season.
The Panthers' interest in Malkin is obviously the most significant for the Devils, as new GM Sunny Mehta was the team's director of analytics at that point in time. Mehta knows the situation he's walking into with the Devils, and probably figures that reinforcements at center, or forward in general, would help the roster immensely.
There really is no scenario where the Devils lose a Malkin signing, but if they end up having interest, they are going to have to make a very strong pitch to secure the future Hockey Hall of Famer's services.
Add us as a preferred source on Google