During an accomplishment-saturated 15-year career with the Penguins, Evgeni Malkin has earned the benefit of almost every doubt.

You can’t scratch him. You can’t bench him. You can’t demote him. You can’t berate him. Malkin has to remain in the lineup, in the top six, playing his usual 18-19 minutes per night, and on the power play. He either finds his way out of his extended slump or doesn’t.

But if he doesn’t, there’s one other thing the Penguins can’t do.

The Penguins can’t extend his contract.

Malkin’s deal expires at the end of the 2021-22 season. He is due $9.5 million next year, same as this year. If Malkin continues to play and produce as poorly as he has in the current season’s first 16 games, the Penguins can’t give him a new contract, let alone at his inflated rate.

Allowing Malkin to finish as a career Penguin and preserve his one-team legacy can’t be a concern for a franchise on the cusp of rebuilding. Not when Malkin has just three goals and seven assists in 16 games, is minus-4, is a defensive liability, is dragging down his wingers no matter who they are, and shows little intensity.

He isn’t in a bad patch. Malkin is just bad.

Malkin could snap back into form. Let’s hope. The sooner, the better.

Malkin hasn’t been the same since the restart. He was invisible in last year’s playoffs, posting just one assist and a minus-3 mark in four games.

Is it a personal problem? If so, that’s not the Penguins’ problem.

Is it poor conditioning because covid denied Malkin access to training facilities? That’s absurd. If you make $9.5 million, build a gym at your house.

Does Malkin need better wings? He has skated with Bryan Rust, Kasperi Kapanen and Jason Zucker. Brandon Tanev jumps on Malkin’s line occasionally. Who is left to try besides Jake Guentzel, who does so well with Crosby? Don’t tear apart what works to super-serve a struggler.

Is it time to go home to Russia and play in the KHL? If Malkin doesn’t get back on track, that might be the best option for all parties, and at season’s end.

Saturday’s 3-2 win over the New York Islanders was another bad game for Malkin. He had one assist but played a part in both Islanders goals. His turnover led to an odd-man break that ended with Jordan Eberle scoring after Malkin was slow to get back. He later flew the defensive zone without the puck on Brock Nelson’s goal.

If you compensate Malkin commensurate to what he does, and he keeps doing so little, he likely won’t sign for what’s offered. Malkin and fellow center Teddy Blueger each have 10 points, and the latter is playing a better all-around game while making $750,000.

Ron Hextall has been the Penguins GM for all of two weeks. Brian Burke has been president of hockey operations for the same period. Hextall and Burke have zero debt to Malkin unless they’re told to by ownership. That once seemed certain. Not anymore, perhaps.

The Penguins can’t extend Malkin unless he plays much better soon, and through season’s end. It ceases being about legacy and PR and starts being about hockey and money. Malkin might return next season for the lame-duck year of his contract, but that’s a slippery slope.

Malkin’s difficulties could disappear in a week, starting Tuesday night at Washington. But even the most ardent Malkin optimist would have trouble seeing any sign of that.

There’s one thing Malkin fans need to understand: Malkin isn’t Crosby.

The two are too often seen as a matched set because their tenures have run parallel and achieved much success.

But Crosby is a top-five player all-time. Malkin didn’t make the NHL’s top 100 all-time list for the league’s centennial in 2017. Malkin should have. But is he top 50?

Crosby occupies the same rarefied air as Mario Lemieux when it comes to impact on the Penguins franchise. Malkin is a notch below. Lemieux and Crosby are a matched set. Malkin is next level down with Jaromir Jagr. That’s not a knock. It’s mere fact.

Malkin just doesn’t matter as much as Crosby does. Malkin isn’t entitled to the same deference as Crosby.

But Crosby doesn’t need deference. Crosby isn’t dominating statistically but has five more points than Malkin and is his usual goal-line-to-goal-line buzzsaw. Malkin is just blah.

If Malkin wants to finish his career in Pittsburgh, he must do more to earn it. Heck, same goes if he wants to keep playing hockey in the NHL. He has been that bad.

Crosby just played game No. 1,000 as a Penguin. Malkin is at 923. The odds of him reaching 1,000 seem to drop every day.

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