Evgeni Malkin has quietly been destroying the NHL this season.
The 31-year-old currently leads the Pittsburgh Penguins with 87 points and has played like a Hart Trophy contender throughout the regular season. With 39 goals, Malkin trails only Patrik Laine and Alexander Ovechkin for the league lead.
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In today’s win against the Dallas Stars, ‘Geno’ not only found himself on the game’s scoresheet, but also moved his way up in Russian hockey history. With his 918th point, Malkin tied Pavel Datsyuk for the fifth most by a Russian born player in NHL history. The only active player ahead of him is Ovechkin.
It’s scary to think that Malkin has already tied Datsyuk and is just 772 games into his career. The Magnitogorsk native is averaging a ridiculous 1.19 points per game in his career, higher than Federov, Mogilny, Kovalev and Ovy. At this rate, he should pass each of them in points with the exception of Ovechkin.
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Malkin reached a career high 113 points in the 2008-09 season and could surpass that total if he plays out of his mind in the next few weeks. Regardless, joining Datsyuk on the top of any list is impressive and certainly deserves recognition.
(H/T r/Hockey)
