Evgeni Malkin rarely breaks his own routine for a media session on game day, but Alex Ovechkin’s retirement announcement was enough to bring him in front of the microphones.
Ovechkin said he will retire from the NHL at the end of the 2026-27 season, and that news clearly landed with Malkin, a longtime peer whose career has been intertwined with Ovechkin’s since they arrived from Russia at roughly the same time. Ovechkin went first, going to Washington with the No. 1 pick in 2004, while Pittsburgh followed by taking Malkin second.
Since then, both have piled up numbers that put them in rare company. Ovechkin has 929 goals, Malkin has 1,411 points, and both sit in the top three in scoring alongside Sidney Crosby. Their paths have crossed repeatedly in the playoffs, and between them they’ve collected championships, scoring titles, MVP awards and plenty more hardware.
Their relationship hasn’t always been smooth. The source of the friction included a fight involving Ovechkin and Malkin’s agent, and the dynamic has moved from rivalry to frostiness to a more settled mutual respect.
That shift showed up in 2025, when Malkin and Crosby gave Ovechkin a Rolex after he broke the all-time goal record. It has also shown up around game nights, when the Penguins and Capitals have often spent time together before facing off, including last April, when images of Malkin playing hallway hockey with Ovechkin’s boys at their house spread on social media.
Malkin’s own future is still less settled. At the start of camp, he did not rule out playing beyond 2026-27, saying that would depend on how his health and performance hold up this season. So far, that part has gone well: Malkin joined Gordie Howe as the only players to begin a 40-plus-year-old season with four points in the first two games.
The Penguins and Capitals meet four times this season, beginning Wednesday night in Washington, D.C. The other games are set for January 18 and March 13 in Pittsburgh, with one final matchup in Washington on April 4. For Malkin and Ovechkin, those games will mark the last times they share the ice in the NHL.
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For a team that has shown fight, the frustrating part is starting to come into focus. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton has been putting pucks on net in bunches, only to leave without the finish to match, and that leaves the Penguins looking for a cleaner result when they see Hartford again on October 10. Their next home date is not until October 23 against the Belleville Senators, so there is plenty of time before the building gets another chance to see whether the effort finally turns into points. [Read more 🡒]
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For Penguins fans, the larger picture is hard to miss: Crosby is still playing on an expiring contract, and he has made clear he wants to keep going beyond the current horizon. Ovechkins future now has a defined endpoint, while Crosbys does not, which only adds another layer to a rivalry that has long been about more than wins and losses. [Read more 🡒]
Penguins Opening Week Just Got More Emotional Than Anyone Expected
Opening week around the Penguins has already carried a heavier-than-usual feel, with roster movement and a sad off-ice note landing alongside the usual early-season churn. David Gustafsson was sent to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton after clearing waivers, and the organization also paused to remember former NHL defenseman Lyle Odelein, who won a Stanley Cup with Montreal and later played in Pittsburgh, before turning back to the ice and the debut of Andrei Kuzmenko.
Kuzmenkos first game in black and gold came after a leave of absence following the death of his father, adding another layer of emotion to a week that had already been shaped by injury returns and difficult news. Ben Kindel also got back into the lineup after recovering from a lower-body injury, and the Penguins suddenly find themselves trying to balance on-ice evaluation with the kind of human moments that can make even an ordinary October stretch feel much bigger. [Read more 🡒]