It looks like the Pittsburgh Penguins won’t have to worry about losing star center Evgeni Malkin to the newly formed Continental Hockey League in Russia. Rumors had been swirling that Malkin had received a very lucrative offer from a team in that league, almost an offer he couldn’t refuse. Key word there almost, Malkin’s agent J.P. Barry has downplayed all rumors and assured he’d be staying in Pittsburgh.
“That’s not what he’s interested in doing,” Barry said. “If this was all about money, he would go to Russia, because he could make more in Russia than he ever could in the NHL. Evgeni’s decision is he wants to stay in Pittsburgh.”
It was rumored that Malkin received an offer of around $12 million, which is considerably more then any team in the league could offer with the current salary cap structure. If this is true, it’s pretty impressive that Malkin was able to turn that down. That amount of money and the chance to play back home is pretty tough to turn down. To show how surprising this move is take a look at this quote by Wayne Gretzky.
“Forget concerns. I wish they were around when I was playing,” said Gretzky, coach and managing partner of the Phoenix Coyotes. “My goodness, it’s a big decision for (Malkin). Financially, it’s incredible. You get a chance to go back to your home country.
This is great news thou for you Penguins fans, for the rest of the NHL thou who knows. The CHL is showing that they are willing to pay to get the talent to join them. And some players are even showing early interest in the league, those include Chris Simon and John Grahame. Both players are currently free agents and could easily sign with no penalties to the CHL. Yea, I said penalties even being in another country if the CHL signs any player that is under contract in the NHL then they risk sanctions by the International Ice Hockey Federation, that could include disqualification from future Olympic play. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.
Live in the Pittsburgh area?? Looking for something to do, here’s a list of things to do.
Here’s a link to the Boston Herald about the new CHL.
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