Evgeni Malkin just said he’s been told by the Penguins that there’ll be no contract talks until after the season, adding that was the message from Kyle Dubas to his agent, J.P. Barry. 

This despite Dubas having pledged publicly last summer that the matter would be addressed during the NHL's now-complete Olympic break. 

"We talked a little bit with J.P. a couple days ago," Malkin said after the game here today. "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."

Malkin, 39, is in the final year of his four-year contract that carries a $6.1 million cap hit and has a full no-movement clause. He has 13 goals and 33 assists in 42 games this season.

I'll have a column on this later.