Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
NHL Power Rankings: #4
It’s absolutely nuts that Evgeni Malkin is the fourth best center in the Eastern Conference. That’s quite telling of how deep the Eastern Conference is. Malkin is one of the most productive centers in the NHL, even if he does have some questions regarding his defense. The biggest reason that he’s not higher might be one of his teammates (who is up higher on this list).
Malkin ranks third in even-strength points per 60 minutes (2.31) over the past three seasons. He’s fifth in even-strength assists per 60 minutes (1.38) and fifth in even-strength goals per 60 minutes (0.94) as well. On the power play, he ranks fifth in power play points per 60 minutes and third in on-ice goals for per 60 minutes.
Malkin is also an elite possession forward, as he ranks in the top 10 in even-strength HSCF% relative (5.90%), even-strength SCF% relative (5.81%), even-strength FenClose% relative (4.32%), and even-strength CF% relative (5.45%).
One of the biggest concerns about him, as Pens Labyrinth points out, is his tendency to not shoot the puck on the power play. He’s not afraid to do it at even strength, which makes it even stranger that he doesn’t do it on the power play.
"[Malkin’s] unwillingness to fire the puck is extremely frustrating to watch and negatively impacts both his line at full-strength and the Pittsburgh Penguins power play. Geno is the most dangerous shooter on this team. While he may not rival pure snipers like Alex Ovechkin or James Neal, he’s still dangerously accurate and has good velocity. Distributing to less formidable shooters too often is an issue that he needs to remedy. – Pens Labyrinth"
Despite his slight power play issue (which honestly is a bit nitpicky but an issue nonetheless), I’d still take him over most centers because of his ability to create offense.
Next: Number Three