Kovacevic: Malkin deal a 'generational' moment for Penguins, our city

What's it mean to be "generational," anyway?

That's the adjective Ron Hextall applied to Evgeni Malkin in the Penguins' press release that was put out at exactly 11 p.m. Tuesday announcing that ... oh, by now, everyone knows.

But just in case ...

The details felt like a formality from the first glance: Four years, $24.4 million, finished on the eve of free agency, and I basically blurred through the rest. It's not as if any of us needs background on this particular individual and all that he's meant to the only NHL team he's ever known, to the only North American city he's ever called home.

Or, hey, maybe after everything everyone's been through these past few days on this front, especially these past 48 hours, we'd benefit from a brief, focused refresher that begins with this:

That was from the Cambridge Dictionary, but I checked Oxford and Webster, too, and they all looked like that. Certainly nothing that'd swim alongside Hextall's usage in the release's full quote: “Evgeni's a generational talent who'll be remembered as one of the greatest players in NHL history. His hockey resume and individual accomplishments speak volumes about him as a player, and we are thrilled to watch him continue his remarkable legacy in Pittsburgh.”

It's obvious what the GM means, of course. It's become common in the sporting lexicon, even if the old bibliophiles haven't quite caught on yet.

So let's try another way:

Right. Once in a generation. Or, depending how often one's favorite franchise is struck by a lucky bolt of lightning, twice in that same generation.

What's above was from Game 6 of the Penguins' eventual Stanley Cup playoff loss to the Rangers, May 13 at PPG Paints Arena. I watched that from the press box, I've been paid to write about this sort of stuff for a lifetime, and yet I'll fail in describing both how and why, in that moment when that puck popped loose behind New York defensemen Jacob Trouba and K'Andre Miller, I knew -- as in 100% knew -- Geno'd beat them both to the possession, then beat Igor Shesterkin between the pipes.

Except if I describe it like this:

Those capable of rewinding their hockey clocks that far need no elaboration. But for everyone else: There's something extraordinary in the air when a truly special athlete's set to strike. An anticipation like no other. An expectation of excellence like no other. It's not that Mario Lemieux buried every breakaway. He didn't. But when everyone knew he'd bury it, he did, and it felt ... my goodness, almost anticlimactic.

No, I'm not about to make any case for why keeping him was the right move. I'm not about to roll through his stats, his trophies, his rings or any additional highlights. All of that'd be outright insulting to anyone who's witnessed so much as a fraction of his career, to anyone who's experienced that same specific feeling even a single time.

And no, I'm not about to suggest Geno'll became the first human to defy one's own DNA and never age. He's 35. His decline's already evident in different ways. But he's still a point-a-game producer, he's still an occasionally elite power-play performer, and he's still the same exemplary teammate and silly goof who was so giddy over Carl Hagelin's empty-netter on that magical night in Nashville just five years ago ...

... that he nearly KOd poor Phil Kessel, then could barely converse when I'd speak with him on that same shredded ice a little later:

To those delighted by this development, I'm right there. I really am. A Pittsburgh treasure's been preserved. Ideally for life.

To those splicing it into short-term, short-sighted complaints, whether it's pining for the common likes of Vince Trocheck or some other nebulous objective that somehow avoids grasping that this is still a solid scorer who'll be staying here at an eminently affordable rate ... man, just step back from it. Go macro.

The Penguins have been blessed with truly "generational" talents unlike any team in the NHL over the past half-century, and that's not open to debate: Mario's the most gifted player who ever lived. Sidney Crosby and Jaromir Jagr will rate among history's top handful. And Geno's easily in the top 50, with a clear path to climb higher.

That doesn't get replaced. That gets embraced.

• Look at the figures atop that list. Then picture Geno playing his 1,000th game in some other sweater. Or scoring his 500th goal.

• There's no crime in sentimentality. It's possible to see value in the past, the present and the future. That's the triple-beauty of this scenario.

• How'd the deal get done?

As I'd been reporting unwaveringly for weeks, the optimism within the Penguins was high. And it never seemed higher than while the brass was in Montreal last week for the NHL Draft, where one source told me the team wanted Geno as much as they expected to get him back.

But there were some machinations along the way, as ever in a negotiation.

Hextall and Brian Burke signed Bryan Rust the same week of the Game 7 loss, then made clear -- with Burke blurting this out in public -- that Kris Letang would be the next priority before Letang was competed at the draft. All this, I'm told, wasn't a coincidence. Between Rust, Letang and eventually Rickard Rakell, management was chipping away at its cap space to the extreme that, by the time P.O Joseph was signed earlier Tuesday, scarcely $9 million was left.

On top of that, the atmosphere was well past the creation phase where all the recent signees were being praised for doing their part to keep the cap low, etc., with the implication being that anyone not doing that wasn't being a team player. Rust and Letang both spoke about it themselves upon their signings.

Just as pivotal on this front, Hextall made no cost-cutting moves despite acknowledging in Montreal he'll need to do that. Because hey, why cut now when that whittling cap space was compounding pressure on Geno, right?

I'm not wild about how this all squeaked within 13 hours of Geno hitting the open market. That's a big risk that might've been an irreversible blight on the team, never mind Hextall himself. But all that counts in sports is the final score, and this wound up a W in which Hextall looks borderline methodical in hindsight.

• Geno's angle won't be known until he speaks to it, but he and his agent, J.P. Barry, might've engineered some machinations of their own.

It was Tuesday that Barry leaked through the usual Canadian media channels that his client had informed the Penguins of his intent to test free agency, eager to see his value on the open market for the first time. I didn't buy it and saw it instead as a bluff aimed at moving Hextall toward getting a four-year contract done. The team's initial approach had been three years, and they'd only begun to talk four years when this striking counter arose.

Geno'd made plain in May that he wasn't to be taken literally with his infamous "I'm a pretty rich guy" response to a question several months earlier about his looming contract status and, as this wore on and he saw everyone around him getting signed to six-year terms, he didn't appreciate what it seemed to signify from his own standpoint, from what I've been told. As one source in Montreal worded it, "He isn't crazy about this." Such a reaction isn't out of the ordinary. Speak with any established professional athletes about what they value within the business, and the perception of respect from their employer always ranks high.

Throughout the process, Letang, Crosby and other teammates maintained contact with Geno, which undoubtedly softened the stance into Wednesday and allowed talks between Hextall and Barry to resume at what'd already been an encouraging stage.

If any of that comes across as dramatic, it really isn't. On a scale of 1 to 71, it's probably an Evan Rodrigues, meaning a 9. Run-of-the-mill fare.

• It'd be a bonus to retain Rodrigues, though not more. He'll now be the Penguins' lone unrestricted free agent, and that's got to be by design.

• It's never been more evident, with Joseph getting a one-way contract and no longer able to return to the AHL without clearing waivers, that Hextall must trade a defenseman or two. If only to accrue more cap space.

If a team's taking Brian Dumoulin, I'm asking for a seventh-rounder and hoping they assume the entire salary. That's not to be mean or disrespectful to the two Cups to which he was a solid contributor. Rather, it's underscoring that it makes little sense to keep an older player over a younger player when one or both of Marcus Pettersson and John Marino can still improve. Dumoulin hasn't been at his best in more than two years now.

• I applaud not tendering Danton Heinen, but only because his 18 goals could've been overvalued by an arbitrator, and that's a budget-buster unto itself. Keep talking, though. Nothing prevents an independent agreement from being reached. Dude can finish.

• If Rakell's healthy, he'll score 30 here. If he scores 30, he'll be a big-time bargain.

• Best move management/ownership could make with any meaningful cap space they can create: Extend Tristan Jarry. Can't let the No. 1 goaltender enter a walk year. Just can't.

• Twenty full years of Crosby, Malkin, Letang. Amazing. That's where this is heading.

• Smile. Seriously. It's OK. This was the optimal outcome for the past, the present and, yeah, the future.

• I'll be at the annual development camp scrimmage Thursday in Cranberry. Feel free to walk up and say hello to the owner of the slickest hoodie in the whole building.

• Thanks for reading this.