How Will Malkin’s KHL Stint Affect His Season?

As Evgeni Malkin leaves home (remember that, he’s not flying home) to play hockey in Pittsburgh, fans are abuzz about his KHL tenure.  I'm certainly excited to watch him in HD on my tv instead of via online streams on my laptop every other morning.

The stats speak for themselves:

37 games, 23 goals & 42 assists (65 points, 1.76 ppg), +23, 58 PIM, 226 shots, 54.7% on faceoffs, 22:26 avg. TOI

Upon leaving the KHL, he ranks 2^nd in goals, 1^st in assists, 2^nd in points, 2^nd in +/-, 1^st in shots, and 3^rd in faceoff %.  These stats are even more impressive when you figure in that he had a very slow start.  When Malkin first joined the KHL, his linemates were Dmitry Kazionov and Yaroslav Kosov (you may recognize Kosov from the 2013 WJC Russian team).

Scoring Geno was Happy Geno

After a slow start, Malkin was lined up with Nikolai Kulemin and Mats Zuccarello.  The line did well, but Sergei Mozyakin eventually joined Malkin and Kulemin to set the league on fire.  Mozyakin is currently 1^st in the KHL in goals and points.  Kulemin is 1^st in +/-.  The trio was simply unstoppable, especially once they were joined by Sergei Gonchar on the powerplay.  Gonchar finished his KHL season 5^th in assists with 26.

But alas, it is time to move beyond the KHL and into a shortened training camp and condensed NHL season.  No matter how much I clamor and wish for it, Sergei Mozyakin will not appear on Malkin’s wing in a Penguins uniform.  So how will this KHL stint affect Malkin?

Theories

Malkin is in mid-season form.

• AGREE.  He is already a FULL step ahead of everyone in the NHL.  Not only did he stay in shape and play meaningful games, he clearly played them at an elite level, even compared to other NHLers playing overseas.  Don't forget he also played those games on a bigger ice surface, so his conditioning should be solid.  No player is more prepared to hit the ground running than Geno (though Datsyuk does have prettier goals).

Malkin will wear down quickly.

Speaking in English again may be tough though.

• DISAGREE.  He has played 37 games already, add 48 games in a “condensed schedule” and he’ll finish with 85 regular season games.  As Jesse Marshall (@jmarshhh) of Faceoff Factor pointed out, the condensed schedule is only .5 more games per week compared to the original schedule.  Also, include the fact that Malkin’s 85 game season began back in mid-September, almost a month earlier than usual.  Games played will not be an issue this year more than any other season.  One last point on this, the KHL has far less hitting overall, so Malkin has dealt with less wear & tear to this point than usual.  If he wears down this season, he's probably going to wear down EVERY season.

Malkin will run away with the scoring title.

• DISAGREE.  While he has looked fantastic in the KHL, two factors will weigh against this.  First off, though he did play against some very skilled players (and frequently NHLers), there is no question he will be facing tougher competition in the NHL.  Second, his linemates will undoubtedly be less skilled in Pittsburgh.  Mozyakin and James Neal probably match up well, but Kulemin is certainly better than whoever ends up on Malkin’s other wing.

Other Thoughts

Powerplay.  

10 of 23 goals on the PP.  Let him have it.

• It will be very interesting to see how Malkin is used on the powerplay with Crosby.  As I have always been a devout Crosby fan (look at the website after all), I always stood by the idea of placing Crosby on the right half-boards and moving Malkin around.  After watching Malkin go to work on Magnitogorsk’s powerplay, move over Sid.  Geno was an absolute terror for opponents from the right half-boards and I’m convinced he needs to stay there.  Magnitogorsk's powerplay was ranked 1st in the league at 26.1% with 53 powerplay goals in 41 games.  It may be time to consider splitting 71 and 87 up and having 2 equal powerplay lines.  Another thing to note is Paul Maurice (head coach of Magnitogorsk) frequently gave equal time to both of his powerplay lines despite the first line being far superior.  That may have improved their effectiveness and it should certainly be considered when Pittsburgh can trot out a strong 2^nd PP line.  Perhaps Dan Bylsma can give Maurice a call if things start slow in the NHL.

Penalty Kill.  

• Malkin was used on the 2^nd penalty kill line and was the first forward out for 5 on 3 PKs.  Magnitogorsk's PK is 6th (out of 26) with an 85.5% kill rate.  While I don’t advocate heavy usage of him on the PK, it’s time to unleash the best players when possible.  Geno looked very comfortable killing penalties and I would love to see him doing it a little in Pittsburgh.

Winger for Geno.  

Bring him with you Geno!

• With Kunitz-Crosby-Dupuis locked up as the first line, the spotlight will be on which forward gets a chance next to Malkin and Neal.  After watching how the first line played in Magnitogorsk, I think the most important traits to look for are the ability to win puck battles or retrieve the puck from corners and off of rebounds.  Malkin and Neal can already score, so they just need someone to do the dirty work.  On the Pens roster, I would say Cooke is the best option, but I don’t believe anyone on the roster is really ideal for the job right now.

Overall

• After all is said and done, here's my prediction for Malkin.  29 goals and 41 assists for 70 points in 48 games (1.46 ppg).  He'll get off to a hot start, slow down as other players catch up, and then heat up again as the season comes to a close.  The scoring race will be a crazy one at the end.

If you have any thoughts/comments/questions about how Malkin looked or was used in Magnitogorsk, please ask and I'll keep adding to this!  Thanks for reading!

Final KHL Recap: Magnitogorsk Loses in a Shootout as NHL Lockout Ends

It was a fun ride Geno, time to bring it back here.

With the end of the NHL Lockout, this will be my final post about the KHL and Metallurg Magnitogorsk as NHL players return back to North America.  It has been a fun ride and I must admit that following the KHL was far more enjoyable than I expected.  Thank you to onhockey.ru (@onhockey) for providing streams online and promoting my blog.  Of course, thank you all for reading these KHL recaps and following as well.  I hope you continue to read along as Evgeni Malkin takes his dominant play back to Pittsburgh.

The Matchup:

Metallurg 

Magnitogorsk 

(24-0-9-7)

@

Slovan

Bratislava

(14-6-5-14)

NHL/Former NHL Players You May Recognize

Lubomir Visnovski, Andrej Sekera, Miroslav Satan (injured)

Pregame Notes

• Magnitogorsk assistant coach Tom Barrasso was fined for "abuse of the officials" in the previous game:  http://en.khl.ru/news/2013/1/6/24976.html
• Standings Update: Magnitogorsk sits in 3rd place in the West with 81 points.  Bratislava is 5th in the East with 59 points.
• KHL Scoring Race Update:  Mozyakin entered tonight's game with the lead (65), 3 points ahead of Malkin (52) and 15 points ahead of Alexander Radulov (50).
• Starting goalies: Jaroslav Janus for Chelyabinsk and Ari Ahonen for Magnitogorsk.
• Injury report remains the same: Cal O'Reilly, Oleg Tverdovsky, and Evgeny Biryukov out.
• Of course, with the NHL Lockout ending, this is likely the last game for Evgeni Malkin, Nikolai Kulemin, and Sergei Gonchar.  Ryan O'Reilly's situation remains to be seen as an NHL restricted free agent.

Recap

Paul Maurice *tear*

Though Evgeni Malkin found out the NHL Lockout was ending before this game started, he opted to play one more game for Magnitogorsk along with Sergei Gonchar and Nikolai Kulemin before their KHL journey ended.  Coming off of a 3 game stretch at home where Magnitogorsk had outscored opponents 16-0 in front of 3 consecutive Ari Ahonen shutouts, there was hope that the team could have one more dominant win together.  Unfortunately, for Magnitogorsk fans and the team, all good things must come to an end.

As the puck dropped and I began chanting "please don't get hurt", it was clear Magnitogorsk would get off to a sluggish start.  Within the first shift, both Malkin and Kulemin avoided traffic with the puck and it made you wonder how much effort they were actually going to put in.  The teams played a seemingly contact-free game for the first 5 minutes before Slovan defender Andrej Sekera (of the Buffalo Sabres) took a tripping penalty.  Metallurg dominated the offensive zone but had very few chances on the powerplay, which ended early as Kulemin took an interference penalty trying to retrieve a rebound.  Slovan capitalized on their powerplay as Viktor Antipin fell a step behind Milan Bartovic, who proceeded to tap a perfect pass from Libor Hudacek into the net.

A few minutes later, Yaroslav Khabarov put Slovan back on the powerplay when he covered the puck with his hands for a delay of game penalty.  Bratislava scored with the man advantage yet again on a wrist shot from the left side by Hudacek.  The period ended 2-0 in favor of Slovan and Malkin's finale looked like a dud early on.

He wasn't going out without a fight.

Magnitogorsk came out in the 2nd period with much more firepower and a completely different attitude than in the first.  They outshot Bratislava 15-6 in the period, though it took them until the final minute to finally score.  Jaroslav Janus made several spectacular saves before succumbing to an onslaught in the final minute of the period after Sekera was sent off for a cross-checking penalty.  With less than a minute left in the period and Magnitogorsk on the powerplay, Kulemin took a pass from Sergei Mozyakin down to the left faceoff dot by Janus.  As Kulemin drew the eyes of both defensemen, he slipped a pass into the slot to Malkin, who performed a half spin-o-rama away from the nearest defenseman and backhanded the puck past Janus to cut the deficit to 2-1.

The top line struck again just seconds later as Malkin won the faceoff, Kulemin skated the puck into the offensive zone and passed it across the ice to Mozyakin, and Mozyakin one-timed it into an almost empty net as Janus could not react quickly enough.   In a span of 12 seconds in the finale minute of the period, Magnitogorsk took a 2-0 deficit and turned it into a tie game in front of a stunned Slovan crowd.

It was a nice try, Antipin.

Bratislava came out hard in the 3rd period and Magnitogorsk gave them a couple more powerplay chances, which was one too many.  With Evgeni Malkin in the box for tripping (which he argued fervently), Slovan caught Ari Ahonen completely out of position and fired a shot past Viktor Antipin who attempted to play goalie temporarily.  Malkin was livid after the goal and put his focus into tying the game, which would happen  4 minutes later.  With the top line out on an extended shift, Malkin carried the puck along the offensive blue line as Mozyakin went deep into the zone.  Slovan defenders lost track of Mozyakin and Malkin fired a pass down to him at the crease where he easily beat Janus with a one-timer to tie the game at 3.  Both Malkin and Enver Lisin had breakaway chances to win the game in the final minute, but were stymied by some clutch saves.

Overtime came and went with barely any chances.  Slovan had the best shot but Ahonen fought it off with his blocker easily.  As Magnitogorsk carried their 0-9 overtime record to a shootout, the ending was rather clear.  Ryan O'Reilly missed on his first chance while Mario Bliznak scored for Slovan.  Both Evgeni Malkin and Jan Lipiansky were stopped in the second round.  Sergei Mozyakin came up with a shootout tying goal in the 3rd round and Ahonen stopped Michal Vondrka to keep the game alive.  However, Mozyakin was unable to score on his chance in the 4th round and Mario Bliznak scored his second of the shootout to win it for Slovan.  Make that 0-10 in overtime.

Final Score:  Slovan Bratislava 4  Metallurg Magnitogorsk 3 (SO)

Box Score: http://text.khl.ru/en/35139.html

Magnitogorsk drops to 24-0-10-7 and Bratislava improves to 14-7-5-14.

Player Notes

The last of many Gonchar-Malkin-Mozyakin celebrations.

Evgeni Malkin

Malkin finished the game with 1 goal, 2 assists, 7 shots, 11 for 26 (42.3%) in faceoffs and 2 PIM in 23:21 of ice time.  After a slow start, his competitive fire erupted as he figured in to every Magnitogorsk goal of the day.  As usual, Sergei Mozyakin also figured into every goal, so Malkin finishes his KHL season still in 2nd place in scoring, behind Mozyakin.  I hate to see those two broken up, there was incredibly chemistry between them and it was really something special to watch.

Malkin's Final KHL Stats:  37 games, 23 goals, 42 assists, (65 points), +23, 58 PIM, 226 shots, 10.2% shooting, 492/899 faceoffs (54.7%), and averaging 22:26 TOI.
Goal breakdown was 12 even strength, 10 powerplay, 1 shorthanded

Nikolai Kulemin

Kulemin added 3 assists in this game and, as usual, was the perfect 3rd musketeer for the Malkin-Mozyakin combination.  He helped create space for both players, frequently chased down loose pucks, and kept defensemen honest.

Kulemin's Final KHL Stats:  36 games, 14 goals, 24 assists, (38 points), +25, 26 PIM, 98 shots, 14.3% shooting, 11/21 faceoffs (52.4%), and averaging 19:27 TOI.
Goal breakdown: 7 even strength, 7 powerplay

Sergei Gonchar

Gonchar went pointless in his final Magnitogorsk game, but also was not on for any of the PP goals against at least.  He played on the 2nd pairing as usual and made a quiet exit out of the KHL.

Gonchar's Final KHL Stats:  37 games, 3 goals, 26 assists, (29 points), +20, 40 PIM, 92 shots, 3.3% shooting, and averaging 21.39 TOI.
Goal breakdown: 2 even strength, 1 powerplay

Next Game:  1/8, 1pm EST @ Lev Praha

The rest of the Magnitogorsk schedule is here:  http://en.khl.ru/calendar/222/01/3995/.

Good luck to Metallurg Magnitogorsk and their fans!!  Thanks for everything!

THE NHL LOCKOUT IS OVER

L;KJFA;LKJFDA;LSKFJLDS;AKJF;DSLKA IT'S FINALLY OVER!!!!! K;AJDF;LKASJF;LKAJS;LFDKJA;LFDKJ;ALKSFJDA;L

Okay, now that I got that out of the way, here's what we know:  There is definitely a deal in place between the NHL and NHLPA that needs to be ratified.  Here are the details as I've seen:

• From @RenLavoieRDS:
• The CBA is 10 years with an opt-out at 8 years.
• The Year 2 ('13-'14) salary cap will have a floor of $44 million and a cap of $64.3 million
• There will be 2 amnesty buyouts per team before the 2013-14 season
• The pension deal will be based off of what MLB has (I don't know the details yet), and it is the only gain the players received from the last CBA.  Owners will be responsible for losses.
• From @DarrenDreger
• Training camp will open Wed-Fri depending on when ratification occurs
• Draft lottery will change, all 14 teams that don't make the playoffs will be eligible for the 1st overall pick instead of the worst 5 teams
• It is likely the NHL will participate in the 2014 Olympics, but that decision will be made outside of the CBA
• Supplemental discipline: Shanahan makes the 1st decision.  Appeals go to Gary Bettman.  For a suspension over 6 games, a neutral 3rd party will be used if necessary.
• From @Real_ESPNLeBrun
• Player contracts will be limited at 7 years for free agents, 8 years for a player that a team already has.
• If there is a 50 game season, it will begin on January 15th.  A 48 game season will begin on January 19th.
• First year salary cap will have an upper limit of $60.2 million, but teams can spend up to $70.2 million.  The floor will be $44 million.
• Owners wanted a July 10th free agency date, but players stood firm and it remains July 1st.
• From @RealKyper
• There will be revenue sharing at $200 million plus a $60 million growth fund
• Contract variance can be 50% of the highest number in the contract (ex. - $10 mil to $5 mil)
• Contract variance can only be 35% from year to year
• From @KatieStrangESPN
• The playoffs are expected to stretch into late June
• From @jessespector
• Realignment has not been discussed yet
• From @reporterchris
• The minimum salary will begin at $525,000 and will rise to $750,000 by Year 10
• One way deals in the AHL that total minimum salary + $375,000 are exempt from the cap

I'll keep adding to this as I read more.

Scot Breckenbaugh, the federal mediator, played a huge part in solving this.