FanHouse JariKurri

On Saturday night, TSN hockey analyst Gord Miller became the latest person to jump on the Pittsburgh is doomed because it has too much cap money tied up in too few players(!) bandwagon.

According to Miller, the Penguins can't compete with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin making as much money as they do, because it forces the Penguins to surround them with bargain basement players. This is apparently because Ray Shero couldn't get his star players to sign cap friendly contracts like Ken Holland did in Detroit. Because of this, the Penguins must (his opinion, not mine) trade Malkin.

It's always fun to look at full-season projections early in the year, and laugh at the ridiculous numbers they present (or perhaps it's just me that finds that slightly amusing. It's probably just me). Still, the Pittsburgh Penguins have played 30 games this season, and center Evgeni Malkin has produced a league-leading 37 assists. The only other player in the league to have 30 at this point is his teammate, Sidney Crosby, who has 31.

If Malkin were to continue his current pace he would finish the season with 101 assists, becoming only the fourth different player in league history to hit the century mark for helpers in a single season. The other players are, of course, the usual suspects: Wayne Gretzky (11 times), Mario Lemieux (once) and Bobby Orr (once). Gretzky did it last, during the 1990 season, when he registered 122 for the Kings.

What makes Malkin's assist numbers so impressive thus far is the fact his wingers, on most nights, are Petr Sykora and Ruslan Fedotenko. Not exactly the same as having Jari Kurri skating next to you every night, now is it?