CRANBERRY, Pa. -- Welcome to our series on who wore each number best for the Penguins.
The idea is being openly borrowed from our new hockey writer, Cody Tucker, and his project at the Lansing State Journal covering all the uniform numbers worn through Michigan State football history, one that's been well received by their readers and prompted heavy discussion and debate.
Under the organization of Taylor Haase, and following the voting of a big chunk of our staff, we'll publish one new one each day until completion, which should be right around the start of training camp.
___________________
Name: Evgeni Malkin
Number: 71
Position: Center
Born: July 31, 1986, in Magnitogorsk, Russia
Season with Penguins: 2006-18
Statistics with Penguins: 784 games, 370 goals, 560 assists in regular season, 158 games, 62 goals, 103 assists in playoffs
WHY MALKIN?
He'd be the greatest player in franchise history with probably three-quarters of the NHL's current franchises, but in Pittsburgh he's ... well, he's precisely where he wants to be. And that's an enormous part of what's made Malkin's tenure so extraordinary: He's always been weirdly un-insulted to be No. 2 even while excelling at the most elite of levels.
The day before the 2004 NHL Draft in Raleigh, N.C., I interviewed both Malkin and Alexander Ovechkin in the same cramped media room, and it was evident immediately: He knew Ovechkin would get all the attention, but he also knew -- palpably -- that he'd carve out his own accomplishments.
"We are different," Malkin told me that day, with the help of an interpreter, of the inevitable comparison to Ovechkin. "I am myself."
He was himself, too, when he scored a goal in each of his first six NHL games, still a modern-era record. He was himself when he raised the Stanley Cup and the Conn Smythe Trophy in Detroit in 2009. He was himself when he won the Hart Trophy in 2012, clutching that thing at the podium in Las Vegas like a child and telling me, "I'm so proud." He was himself in beating Ovechkin again and again and again in the playoffs. And of course, he was himself when raising the Cup twice more.
Second to Sidney Crosby?
Sure. Whatever. Or not, depending on the week.
But it's been a slot he's embraced, both on and off the ice, throughout his career. "Go ask Sid" has been among his favorite lines, even as he's also taken on additional vocal leadership in recent seasons. He's never minded the lack of attention, other than the richly understandable fuming over the NHL's absurd snub in leaving him off the all-time Top 100 on the league's centennial anniversary. (And even that was because he'd be forever left out of an iconic photograph of the seven Penguins who were selected, shot that night in Los Angeles.)
I've been blessed to cover Malkin's career firsthand, from the draft to the MVP presentation to the championships to his larger-than-life return to Russia for the Sochi Olympics. But one memory stands out more than anything, and that was from March 2017 in Calgary. I hope you read this.
He's been great in the shadow of greatness, and then in the shadow of further greatness. He might wind up as the greatest complementary player, if you will, in the sport's history. But by choice. Through humility.
All that said, his career's anything but in the past. So the video with this edition of Who Wore It Best will look back only as far as all 42 goals he scored last season:
WHAT'S HE DOING NOW?
Probably snorkeling off the coast of Sochi with some Russian buds. The man lives his life.
IT WAS SPOKEN
Nope, not today. This one, again, is on you. We had a wonderful collection of reader testimonials the other day about Mario Lemieux, but this is the current generation's superstar. Let's hear today, in particular, from our younger hockey readers. Use the comments section below to share personal memories, experiences, even encounters about Geno.
Make it better than second-best!
HONORABLE MENT'ION
Jiri Slegr
Konstantin Koltsov
ANY DEBATE?
Slegr once fell asleep on my shoulder for several hours on the Penguins' flight to Japan, which has to at least be deemed noteworthy. Jaromir Jagr and Martin Straka came back to that part of the plane to capture it for posterity.
Thursday: Chris Bradford has No. 72.
Yesterday: Jaromir Jagr