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NHL Notebook: Malkin okay with leaving the Penguins, Jack Adams finalists named, and more
Pittsburgh Penguins Evgeni Malkin
Photo credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images
Alicia LaBine
May 1, 2026, 18:00 EDTUpdated: May 1, 2026, 19:32 EDT
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One of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ longest-tenured players could be out the door this offseason.
So far there has been little to no discussion reported between Evgeni Malkin and the Penguins. Before the season began, Josh Yohe of The Athletic reported that they would not be bringing their assistant captain back after the 2025-26 season. However, that was before Malkin had an odds-defying year, putting up 19 goals and 61 points in 57 games.
On Friday, DK Pittsburgh Sports’ Taylor Haase asked the Russian superstar if he would be willing to play for a different team if Pittsburgh kept contract talks silent, and his answer to that was, “Yes.”
Malkin, who will be turning 40 before the beginning of next season, has played his entire career in Pittsburgh, leaving a lasting impact on the team, staff, and fans. It makes sense for the Penguins to move on from an aging forward during their navigation through Crosby’s final years in the league, however, it would be strange for Pittsburgh to be without him.
Daily Faceoff’s Kyle Morton reported on Bryan Rust, Rickard Rakell, and Sidney Crosby’s statements about Malkin’s future.
“I can’t see him not being back,” Rakell said. “He’ll be back.
“I love Geno,” Rust added. “I don’t know life in the NHL without him.”
The trio of Crosby, Malkin and defenseman Kris Letang became the first trio of players to play 20 NHL seasons together this year, and with Crosby and Letang already under contract for next year, they could make it 21.
“It’s kind of hard to put into words, honestly,” Crosby told reporters after the Penguins’ season-ending loss. “It’s something that we probably have just gotten used to, but I think they’re like family. That’s the best way to describe it. We’ve had some great wins, some tough losses like this. Ultimately, though, that’s a long time that we’ve played together. Just so appreciative for the opportunity to have played with them as long as we have. Hopefully, we can keep it going.”
Malkin has played 1239 games, notching 533 goals and 1,407 points for the Penguins. His persistent personal success is something his teammates hope will return to Pittsburgh next year.

Jack Adams Award finalists

Jon Cooper, Lindy Ruff, and Dan Muse have been selected as the finalists for the Jack Adams Award, which is given to the best coach in the NHL.
The Buffalo Sabres had their best season in over a decade this past year, lead by Ruff’s presence behind the bench. Last year was the first of the coach’s return to Buffalo, after he was fired in 2013, following a 6-10-1 start to the 2012-13 season. Now, the team has made their first playoff appearance in 14 years, and the coach is receiving recognition for this turnaround.
Ruff’s been a finalist for this award five times, tying him with John Tortorella, Scott Bowman, and Alain Vigneault for the most nominations. He has won the award once, 20 years ago when Buffalo made it to the Eastern Conference final.
As for Cooper, this will be his third nomination for the Jack Adams. The Tampa Bay Lightning’s coach has been with them for 13 years, making him the longest-active tenured coach in the NHL.
Tampa has consistently been a solid NHL team under Cooper’s watch, and even this year when his team was dealing with injuries to star players, they still managed to finish second in the Atlantic Division. He could become the second coach in the Lightning’s history to win the award since Tortorella won it in 2004.
The Pittsburgh Penguins were one of the league’s biggest surprises this year when they defeated everybody’s expectations, finishing second in the Metropolitan Division. Muse helped the team make their first playoff appearance after missing three straight years, despite his star players not getting any younger.
Dan Bylsma is currently the only Penguins coach to have ever won the award, which was 15 years ago. As a rookie coach, Muse could become the second to win the Jack Adams, since Patrick Roy in 2013-14 for the Colorado Avalanche.

Wild snap second round drought

Minnesota Wild hockey is alive and well following their Game 6 win over the Dallas Stars, securing their ticket to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
This marks the first second-round appearance in 11 years for the Wild, where they beat the St. Louis Blues in six games, just to go on to be swept by the Chicago Blackhawks. Fans were so ecstatic at the end of the third period of Thursday evening’s game that goaltender Jesper Wallstedt spotted a fan crying in the stands behind him.
“I looked back and I saw someone crying back there,” Wallstedt said. “Everyone’s so happy, the building was so loud that my ears started hurting.”
The rookie goaltender was arguably the best player in the series, hoisting the team to their four wins with a .924 save percentage and a 2.05 GAA, including a 43-save performance in Game 4’s overtime win.
Other outstanding performances came from Matt Boldy, who had 6 goals and 9 points, and Quinn Hughes, who was acquired from the Vancouver Canucks earlier in the season for Zeev Buium, Marco Rossi, Liam Ohgren, and a first overall pick in the 2026 draft,. Hughes’ impact on the series came from his elite ability to skate and handle the puck, and his 2 goals in Game 6 boosted the Wild’s 5-2 win.
On Friday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, hosts Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton were joined by Seth Toupoal of Locked on Wild to discuss the keys of the series.
Tyler Yaremchuk: A big night in Minnesota. For the first time in 11 years, the Minnesota Wild have won a playoff series… so let’s start with the list of reasons why Minnesota was able to advance. If you had to write ’em all out, what’s the first one that comes to mind? What was the biggest key to them getting past the Dallas Stars?
Seth Toupoal: If I had to rank the biggest thing that I think swayed this series for Minnesota, I’ve got to go with Jesper Wallstedt. I mean, coming into his first playoff action, and outdueling Jake Oettinger over the course of a six-game series, there were major concerns once the season was done with what Filip Gustavsson had done… his last five or six starts were not great… But Jesper had a couple of games that he definitely was able to steal. To go toe-to-toe against Jake Oettinger and come out on top, that was an incredible way for the Wild to win this series. I would say the 5-on-5 play was probably number two. Staggering level of inability for Dallas to score in 5-on-5 play. They were held to almost exclusively special teams goals. I did not expect that they would have that much trouble, but for the Wild defense to keep them off the score sheet and basically turn them into a power play-reliant team, that was massive too.
The Wild will go on to face the President’s Trophy champions, the Colorado Avalanche, set to begin sometime next week.

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