Here’s hoping it’s a mixup.

Or a misunderstanding.

Or that maybe I was the one missing something upon hearing Evgeni Malkin say after the Penguins’ 3-2 shootout loss to the Rangers this afternoon here at Madison Square Garden that Kyle Dubas, who’d publicly pledged that he’d discuss Geno’s future with the franchise at the Olympic break … now won’t do so until after the ongoing NHL season?

No way. Just no way.

Geno’s exact wording, Geno-isms and all: "We talked a little bit with J.P. a couple days ago. He just say wait to the end of the season and see what's going on. Nothing I can say right now. I'm just playing. It's not my job to talk to Kyle or somebody. I just play my game and just wait. ... I want to help the team win, of course. Nothing crazy news. I'm just waiting, and I think my agent tell me we wait for end of the season."

J.P. Barry's his career-long agent.

And, um ... yuck.

My friends, I haven’t got much here. Not going to lie. I’m not about to concoct some column carving apart the GM when I’m not all-the-way certain about the scenario. Because I don’t feel I can be.

Yeah, I hung around after the cameras and microphones had moved away from Malkin’s stall. Double-checked the essentials. Asked if he spoke what he intended to speak, always respectful that English remains his distant second language.

He nodded, affirmed, nodded again, affirmed again, and then mentioned something I didn’t really understand about having more dialogue with an unspecified somebody “maybe Monday.” Which would be an idle day in Pittsburgh.

Whatever.

Dubas declined, through team officials, a request to comment on Geno's remarks. His plan remains to not do interviews until next Friday after the NHL trade deadline.

This much I know: I think the absolute world of what this GM's done to date in Pittsburgh, doubly so as applied to the ongoing season. He should be the runaway favorite for the league's Executive of the Year award.

This much I … think I know: He couldn’t conceivably be stubborn or stupid or slimy enough to openly disrespect Geno the way the scenario above would seem to suggest.

Not when Geno’s continued to be a point-a-game producer — 13 goals, 33 assists in 42 games — at age 39.

Not when Geno’s plus-14 rating is tied for the top of all of the team’s forwards, a testament to his mature-if-overdue commitment to taking care of the scoreboard first.

Not when Geno, even in these first two games out of the break, has been his side’s swiftest skater by an almost uncomfortable margin.

Not when the Penguins, even with this semi-egg laid here, are second in the division and in a strong stance toward making the Stanley Cup playoffs.

And not when, for the record, Dan Muse was asked about Geno’s value to the team — clearly without being aware of Geno’s remarks a few minutes earlier, and responded, “Geno's driving like that. The chances he got in overtime, the year he's having right now, I think that's where his game's at. We wouldn't be where we are without him."

That’s the truth:

Imagine if Igor Shesterkin hadn't stoned him on either one of those.

Also the truth: Geno wants only to stay, only Pittsburgh, only to be with Sidney Crosby. I reaffirmed that with him afterward. He's made that plain. He doesn't want to retire. He doesn't want to go anywhere else. And if there's anything remotely resembling some angling for a longer term or raise on his current $6 million salary, that'd be news to me.

Here’s hoping there’s more truth to come, and that it doesn’t at all align with the scenario above.

GETTY

Tommy Novak wrists the puck wide past the Rangers' Igor Shesterkin to end the shootout.

• I get that Geno's been easy for two decades to take for granted in our orbit, so I'll try this in isolation: Where else does a team get a point-a-game value for $6 million AND no contractual commitment beyond that? Hello? Anyone?

• Might Dubas aim to keep Geno motivated?

I suppose that's possible, but that'd also be ignoring several months of hard evidence. I entertained at the time Blake Lizotte was extended last month -- three years, $6.75 million -- that it might've been a figurative dangling carrot to others on expiring contracts. But even that doesn't add up. Geno's Geno, and the only other one I could see cashing in would be Connor Dewar, who doesn't need his fire lit any more or less than Lizotte.

• In the event that Dubas would've wanted Geno to just kinda fade away -- and I'm citing that as an if -- well, too bad. Deal with what ought to be a welcome surprise.

• The Penguins are 30-15-13, they're 15-3-4 since Christmas alone, and they're second in the Metro, so they've earned more than a couple mulligans along the way.

Still, overwhelming a last-place opponent stuck in a five-game losing streak really shouldn't devolve into lousy outcome, and this one did in large part because of unforced errors trying to exit the Pittsburgh zone. The Penguins were charged with 15 official giveaways, and most happened right in that pivotal space.

I asked Ryan Shea about this:

• It's been only two games, so this is unfair, but I like next to nothing I've seen from Sam Girard. He's been both loose and careless with the puck, in particular, and that's the polar opposite of his purported strengths.

Conversely, I can't imagine what anyone in management wouldn't have liked about Ilya Solovyov.

• It's not just that the Penguins are 1-8 in shootouts. It's that they're ... just ... so ... bad:

Muse offered his now-standard shrug when this arose afterward: "It's really both ends of it."

He's right. This was Stuart Skinner's first shootout with this team, but Vince Trocheck had no trouble finding the five-hole on his decisive try. Whereas Anthony Mantha didn't get off a shot, Egor Chinakhov was stopped, and Tommy Novak sent his somewhere toward Connecticut.

Great response from Skinner on the subject: "Honestly, I can tell you that in practice, these guys absolutely shred me. We've got a really skilled group. I can't really put a finger on it. It's hard for me to say."

Greater response from Geno on same: "I don't know why you asked me. I didn't do it. Next time, maybe ask the coach."

• And as if one randid, repeating refrain wasn't enough, there's also goaltender interference:

This one was the worst of them all, I'd say. And not just because it cost the Penguins an early two-goal lead that could've rendered the Rangers even more comatose than they'd been.

Anthony Mantha's skate is outside Shesterkin's crease. A billion percent.

Shesterkin churns into the ice in that direction to try to leverage his push to the right and try -- in vain -- to stop Bryan Rust's shot. In doing so, he initiates the contact. A billion percent.

For anyone in Toronto to have overturned that for any reason beyond clinical insanity could only mean that they've never spent a day of their bleeping lives in the sport of ice hockey.

Muse acknowledged being surprised, adding when asked how anyone can interpret the goaltender interference rule, "I don't know anymore."

Other players complained about it, too.

The league's official explanation: "Video review determined Pittsburgh’s Anthony Mantha impaired Igor Shesterkin’s ability to play his position in the crease prior to Bryan Rust’s goal. The decision was made in accordance with Rule 69.1 which states, in part, 'Goals should be disallowed only if: (1) an attacking player, either by his positioning or by contact, impairs the goalkeeper’s ability to move freely within his crease or defend his goal.” "

My official explanation: They need new work.

• Ben Kindel’s line, between Mantha and Justin Brazeau, was brutalized at five-on-five — four shot attempts for, nine against — while Avery Hayes continued to look at least a little lost alongside Rickard Rakell and Rust, which might've contributed to Muse trying Kindel between the latter two in the third period. 

I asked Muse if that was based on faceoff location or performance, and all he'd say was, “It was a little bit of both.”

Watch for shakeups.

• How much is Sid missed?

Consider that the Penguins lost 40 of 52 faceoffs, a 23% success rate that was their worst in any game since 1997, per hockey historian Bob Grove. And get this for contrasts: Rakell was 0 for 10, Trocheck 18 for 21.

I asked Muse if he might try other players, even wingers, on these. He said he would.

One name I’ll blurt out: Kevin Hayes.

• Thanks for reading my hockey coverage! Right back home tonight, Golden Knights tomorrow, then a flight to Boston the following night! Every game means every game!