Russian center Evgeni Malkin has agreed to terms on an eight-year contract extension worth $76 million with the Pittsburgh Penguins, the National Hockey League club announced on Thursday.
The deal begins with the 2014-2015 campaign and runs through the end of the 2021-22 season. Malkin is set to make $9.5 million for each of the eight seasons under the new deal.
Pittsburgh was swept out of this season’s NHL playoffs by Boston in the Eastern Conference final earlier this month after having the best record in the East during the regular season.
The 26-year-old from Magnitogorsk won the NHL scoring title in 2012 and 2009 and along with Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr are the only Penguins to have taken the Art Ross Trophy as scoring king in multiple seasons.
Last year, Malkin scored 50 goals and was named the NHL Most Valuable Player. In 2009, he helped the Penguins win their third Stanley Cup title and was named the Most Valuable Player of the NHL playoffs.
Malkin, a two-time Olympian for Russia, sparked his homeland to the world title in 2012 and was named Most Valuable Player of the World Championships.
Malkin, the second pick of the 2004 NHL Draft, played this season for his hometown Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the Kontinental Hockey League while the NHL was shut down during a lockout, scoring 23 goals in 37 games before the club owners and players settled their dispute and he returned to the Penguins.
NHL Penguins ink Malkin to $76 mil, eight-year extension
