The highly coveted Pittsburgh Penguins MVP Award rounds out the weeks “so far” awards. This season has seen highs and lows, but one player stood out among the rest.
If you look at overall stats for the team this season, only two players stand out when it comes to leading the pack. Evgeni Malkin and Bryan Rust lead the Pittsburgh Penguins in points and theoretically lead the team in what will be a real MVP race at seasons end.
However, this week we have been projecting our thoughts on who will win as we have been handing out the Pens Labyrinth “so far” awards for the Penguins. This award takes the cake as it is, without a doubt, the most important when it comes to on the ice play and team attainability. But before we get into our choice, let’s look back at the history of this award in recent years.
This award in years past has been a flip of the coin between Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Crosby has one it 8 times to Geno’s 4. Those two have won every year going back to 2008 except for twice. In the last three seasons, they have flip-flopped once more; Sid won it in 2017, Geno in 2018, and Sid again in 2019. If history repeats itself, then we all know who is up for 2020.
Pittsburgh Penguins “so far” Awards: The Most Valuable Player.
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With history being an end-all to be all, and his stats this season, it’s an easy nomination for us as we pick Evgeni Malkin as the Pittsburgh Penguins Most Valuable Player this season. To break down our why, let’s dive into his stats.
Geno has a massive points lead this season. His 74 points lead the team by a long shot with the before mentioned Rust coming in at 56 points, that’s an 18 point gap between Geno and the rest of the group. He also has 25 goals so far this season, which eclipses his total of 21 from last year.
If Geno is Russian vodka, he’s top shelf in more ways than one. Additionally, he is currently sitting in 5th place in the NHL with a 1.35 points-per-game ratio. He also will walk home with the Player’s Player Award, and the Masterton (projections, of course).
The Pens have been lucky to have Malkin and Crosby on their side because it seems that they decide to step up and help when the other cannot. They feed off each other and perform at different times, at just the right time. Evgeni Malkin has made it easy for us to pick the MVP this season, and let’s hope that with age, he just keeps getting better.