Pittsburgh1776
Registered User
- Aug 9, 2010
- 5,274
- 4,638
The one constant in Malkin's worst stretch of hockey in his career has been Zucker. And, it's not like it was that much more inspiring in the playoffs before this.
As I keep saying, sometimes two guys are just oil and water together and you have to accept it and move on from there.
At least Malkin and Kapanen are on the same planet as far as chemistry goes.
Zucker is one of your trade pieces, although I think the 'injured LD for L2 LW' swap is the thing that is most conceivable.
EDIT: One thing I love is this 'well give them time to develop chemistry'. Truth is, there NEVER has been a good Malkin line that developed chemistry over time. The chemistry was obvious from the beginning, and there was production from the beginning. It didn't guarantee that the line would endure, but instant chemistry was a hallmark of every single good or better Malkin line.
The obvious move, to me, is the org moves on from Malkin this offseason. Package him with a couple other pieces and restock around the kind of players the coach and the organization want. That's the direction the org has been moving since 2018 and only Sid and maybe Mario stopped if before. You may also see Letang moved. But the org is not going to build anything around Malkin going forward IMO. That's just the sense I get from all the comments and gestures made by all involved. He will be 35 at that point, and simply doesn't have the longevity that Sid does and the style that could keep him around into his late 30s. But the Pens could have two or three years left of high level Crosby and that can't be wasted.