Malkin may be entering last year with Penguins, but perhaps not final one in NHL

CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Evgeni Malkin is well aware his 20th season in Pittsburgh could be his last. He doesn’t have to be told.

“I know too, trust me,” the longtime Penguins center said with a smile on Friday.

The three-time Stanley Cup winner’s current contract is up next summer, and Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas is in no rush to sit down at the bargaining table. Dubas said Thursday he’ll likely wait until the Olympic break before getting a feel for what might be in store for both Malkin and the team.

That’s fine by Malkin, who turned 39 in July and is coming off a season in which he managed just 50 points, by far his lowest total during a year in which he played at least 57 games.

“I’m not happy how I play last couple of years, for sure,” Malkin said.

The rebuilding Penguins likely need better if they want to contend for a postseason berth. Once a playoff fixture, Malkin and longtime running mate Sidney Crosby have watched the quest for the Stanley Cup go on without them each of the last three seasons.

While Crosby remains, even at 38, among the league’s elite, Malkin has struggled to find the consistency and energy that were the hallmarks of his prime. Considering Dubas’ commitment to the club’s methodical reset — he said Thursday he has no intention of shortcutting the process by adding aging veterans in the hopes of squeaking into the playoffs to give the club’s core of Malkin, Crosby and Kris Letang some sort of fitting send off — Malkin knows he might not be part of the team’s plans beyond next spring.

“If it’s my last year here, I want to show everything,” he said. “I want to show my best game.”

Malkin has been unable to tune out the chatter about his future, even back home in Russia.

“People start talking about me maybe coming back to play one more year in my hometown,” he said. “It’s annoying. Lots of guys speak around.”

Malkin would prefer that his play do the talking. And if it speaks loud enough, he’s not ruling out sticking around in the NHL next year even if it’s not in Pittsburgh. He pointed to Panthers forward Brad Marchand — who spent 15-plus seasons in Boston before being traded to Florida at the deadline in March and went on to help the Panthers win a second straight Stanley Cup — as proof an established star can move on and still find success.

“We see a story like Brad Marchand, it’s looking good,” Malkin said. “But, if a team trades you, and you don’t win the Cup, it’s a little bit weird, too. We’ll see what’s going on in the future.”

His preference in the short-term would for the Penguins to find a way to reach the playoffs as currently constructed. They did little to add to the roster during the summer. The biggest move was hiring Dan Muse to replace two-time Stanley Cup winning coach Mike Sullivan, who now holds the same job with the New York Rangers.

Malkin called Muse’s first few practices “crazy hard,” something Malkin believes the club needs. It might also need everything to come together quickly if Pittsburgh wants to be buyers instead of sellers at the trade deadline. Malkin knows it’s not out of the question that the Penguins could be out of it by the time he and Dubas finally sit down to hash things out. How he’ll feel if that happens is a mystery to everyone, Malkin included.

“Everybody wants to try to play in playoffs, and maybe one more run for the Cup,” Malkin said. “It’s a great story when you see it on TV, but I don’t know how I feel if team wants to trade me.”