that would be difficult to do, seeing he's out for the season.
Let's preface this by saying I like Malkin, and I'm fairly certain he's a good teammate. I also like having him on my team. But with the new salary-capped NHL, I simply don't like paying him $8.7 million. That's Top 5 Player salary, and sorry to say it...Malkin is not one of the Top 5 players in the NHL.
The Geno apologists will point to injuries. Meh. It's been a year and a half, and his game has not evolved one bit. Is it his work ethic? Who knows? Comparing someone's work ethic to that of Sid's might be unfair. But Sid continues to work on his game and improve every year. Malkin's weaknesses continue to be weaknesses. He's averaging less than a point-per-game, and he's a minus player for the 2nd straight year. If he was contributing big time on the PP, like a Stamkos, maybe that could be forgiven.
But the biggest case against Geno is that it appears we play better hockey without him. The Pens had won 7 of 8 games, and 4 straight w/o Geno. He steps back on the ice against Buffalo, and we play our worst period in 2 weeks. Down 2-nil, Geno gets hurt, and we play better...ultimately coming back to win 3-2 (fckya!!!)
Like I said, I'd love to have Geno on my team. But I'd love to have him for $5.7 million/yr. Can't complain about Shero's signings, as most have panned out. This one, though, could hurt the Pens for a few years.
Now Geno is out for the year. Oh well...we've got more cap space to play with, so that's a good thing.
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