Evgeni Malkin: Is the Pens’ Superstar Already a Hall of Famer?

Century Scorers

As the 100-point mark is one rarely achieved, denoting players as elite when they do attain the triple-digit point total, let’s start there.

Feb 6, 2015; Calgary, Alberta, CAN; Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin (71) skates with the puck against the Calgary Flames during the second period at Scotiabank Saddledome. Pittsburgh Penguins won 4-0. Mandatory Credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports

Malkin has three 100-point seasons under his belt already in his first eight campaigns.

Modano and Sundin never topped the century mark. Shanahan did it just once (1993-94).

Sakic and Forsberg seem like closer comparisons in terms of style of play, and each have more experience with 100-point seasons.

Forsberg managed to top 100 points twice throughout his entire career.

Sakic, however, did it six times (with the last coming at age 38).

So where does Malkin rank among these five? At only age 28, he’s already done what four of them never did throughout the entirety of their careers. With three century marks in his first eight seasons, Malkin is on roughly the same track as Sakic, who had four over a similar timespan.

It certainly doesn’t seem out of the question that Malkin could post a 100-point season again. As he’s only just in the midst of his prime, it’s a pretty fair bet that he’ll have at least a couple more – putting even more distance between himself and some of the other recent greats.