Kyle Dubas was asked on the Penguins' 'GM Show' about Evgeni Malkin's future beyond this season, and spoke highly of what Malkin has brought and continues to bring to the team.

"He's a franchise icon," Dubas said. "He deserves to be treated with the utmost amount of respect, and we always want to handle it the right way."

Dubas said that he has continued to have a "dialogue" with Malkin's agent J.P. Barry during the season, and he doesn't wish to share any of those details publicly, but he said that both sides are continuing to speak.

"From our perspective, the communication with J.P. Barry and with Geno has been very clear both in terms of how we want to handle it as we continue to proceed and what that path is going to be," Dubas said. "And I don't think it benefits Geno or the Pittsburgh Penguins for us to lay that all that out publicly, as much as the public may have an interest in it, other than to say the year that Geno's had has been spectacular for someone who's 39 years old. Not only the production, but more importantly, it's been watching him as we've had some of these guys come in, like Egor Chinakhov, Arty Silovs, Ilya Solovyov that are Russian-speaking, and the way that Geno has handled them from the leadership side, it's really been special to watch. They speak openly about the impact that he's had on them. And I think with Geno, that impact sort of goes under the radar. Maybe it's not talked about as much, but he brings a lot to to our program, and has obviously brought a lot of very special moments and championships and individual awards, but more importantly, helping team to play at a high standard and win over his time with the team. We'll continue to stay in touch with J.P., and other than that, I think it's a private matter for Geno. He can speak about it as much as he wants, but from our perspective, we'll let him do that."