The Chicago Blackhawks hosted a very special event on Sunday night as they retired Marian Hossa’s number 81 to the rafters. It was also a very special night for Pittsburgh Penguins superstar Evgeni Malkin.
Malkin, who was a former teammate with Marian Hossa for a short time in Pittsburgh, played all 1000 of his games in a Penguins sweater. Through it all, he became one of the very best players to ever do it.
He played his entire career in the shadow of Sidney Crosby, but there were times when he was just as good as him. For a long time, they were the two best players in the entire National Hockey League. Now, he is 1000 games into his first-ballot Hall of Fame career.
In the game, the Penguins won big over Chicago by a final score of 5-3. The Hawks almost pulled off a big comeback win but the Penguins were able to hold them off.
Evgeni Malkin’s 1000th game went exactly how you’d expect it to go.
In typical Malkin fashion, he scored his 8th of the season in this game to help guide the Penguins to a win. This was his 452nd goal and 1166th point in his career. On the season, he has eight goals and 12 assists for 20 points in 19 games played.
Malkin might not be quite as lethal offensively as he was early in his prime, but he is still a very elite player for being 36 years old. He would have reached those 1000 games a lot quicker and have a lot more points if he wasn’t injured from time to time.
When he was healthy, he was amazing. As far as the regular season, Malkin has won the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie, the Art Ross trophy as the NHL’s scoring leader twice, and the Hart Trophy as the MVP of the league once.
He has also played a lot of playoff games in his career and has been equally as amazing there too. He is a three-time Stanley Cup champion with the Pittsburgh Penguins and he won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the Most Valuable Player in the playoffs the first time around.
With all of these awards in addition to his statistics, he is absolutely going to be remembered as one of the best to ever do it. The NHL didn’t name him as a top-100 player ever a few years ago, and that was a major mistake because he is actually a top-20 player ever.
Malkin is sure to have a few more years of good hockey ahead of him before it is all said and done. Hockey fans can only hope to see him do some even more incredible things over the coming years as his career gets closer to the end.