Mark Madden's Hot Take: A 3-year deal for Evgeni Malkin makes perfect sense

It’s uncertain how the Evgeni Malkin contract saga will end.

But one thing is definite: There will be a bad guy.

If the Pittsburgh Penguins’ final offer is two years and Malkin declines, the team is the bad guy.

If the Penguins’ final offer is three years and Malkin declines, he’s the bad guy.

The most recent offer is reportedly three years at $6 million per.

If Malkin leaves, that makes him the bad guy.

A three-year contract parallels the term remaining on Sidney Crosby’s deal. Three years makes perfect sense.

Letang, 35, got six years at $6.1 million. But he’s a better player right now, has adjusted his game as he has aged, is a monument to conditioning and is much more difficult to replace. You pay for what is, not what was.

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If Malkin draws a hard line at four years, his priority is getting the most possible, not finishing his career in Pittsburgh with his “brothers” Crosby and Letang. (That sounded like a crock the moment it came out of Malkin’s mouth.)

If Malkin takes three years, he proves his sincerity. He could get more elsewhere but leaves it on the table. Just like Letang and Bryan Rust. Letang undersold himself by at least $10 million, maybe more.

Malkin’s poor, poor pitiful me routine, “do they want me?”… it’s a bunch of carny nonsense.

So is the “legacy player” crap. Better players than Malkin have left teams after better runs than the Penguins had with him.

Malkin didn’t win Stanley Cups for new team owner Fenway Sports Group, nor for GM Ron Hextall or president of hockey ops Brian Burke. They owe him nothing.

Malkin will be 36 at month’s end. He has had two major knee surgeries, one just last summer. He played OK last season, but he didn’t consistently have his previous jump.

In a vacuum, three years is too long. A risk.

Getting offered three years is Malkin’s reward for being a “legacy player.” It is not even in the slightest disrespectful. It’s exactly the opposite.

The Penguins have paid Malkin $118 million. His contract’s average annual value has been higher than Crosby’s over the past eight years. In December, Malkin said, “I’m not thinking about money. I’m a pretty rich guy.”

If Malkin nixes a three-year contract, he will let his “brothers” down. The Penguins will have done all they should. Any other notion is ridiculous.

But if the Penguins give Malkin four years, what’s the difference? Unless Hextall pulls a bunch of rabbits out of his hat, the Penguins are done winning Cups for a while.