The contracts delivered to Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang on the eve of free agency in 2022 were the fulcrum on which the teetering Pittsburgh Penguins organization committed to their superstar core, honoring their past contributions, desire to play together, and the new ownership’s desire to sell tickets.

The team was coming off a playoff series loss to the New York Rangers in which they squandered three straight late third period leads to losing a 3-1 series lead and the series. It was also a bit of a screwjob, providing the organization hopes that they were close to Stanley Cup contenders.

A few shrewd moves would have made them far more competitive. Instead, former GM Ron Hextall essentially traded Mike Matheson for Jeff Petry. He also signed Brock McGinn and Kasperi Kapanen and spent his trade deadline capital on Mikael Granlund.

Those would count as the opposite of shrewd.

As Pittsburgh Hockey Now opened the door to requests for August columns, the Malkin and Letang contracts were hot topics. It’s been a topic we’ve shied away from since the Hextall and players signed. After all, what good is driving in the rearview mirror?

However, such a pivotal point in the current franchise’s situation does deserve a thorough examination.

The question about the contracts is sometimes asked, but more often, it’s a statement wrapped in a bit of vitriol or disdain. It’s not only in the light of hindsight that some are against the contracts issued by Hextall and current ownership (Fenway Sports Group); there was a stiff pushback at the moment, too.

Truth?

Therein lies part of the problem. The moment’s pushback creates a market demand for vindication while the supply runs short. We’ll call it the Jack Johnson Principle. Johnson was a solid defenseman for the Penguins but signed an onerous contract that vociferous groups of Penguins fans immediately opposed. Ergo, every play on every shift of every game was a new chance to prove the opposition correct and the organization wrong.

Malkin and Letang are currently subjects of the Jack John Principle.

Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang

The answer regarding the deals is not simple. The Malkin and Letang contracts were mistakes, but not the mistakes that many think.

Keeping the players wasn’t erroneous. Heck, Malkin has scored 54 goals with 150 points over the past two seasons. Most teams would find a center capable of that output on a $6 million deal to be a fair contract.

Letang had a brilliant first half of 2023-24. He was the Penguins’ best defenseman by a country mile until injuries savaged him in the second half. Offseason surgery was a real possibility, but there’s been no announcement regarding such.

A legitimate second-line center and a top defenseman, also for about $6 million per season. That’s not a problem, and it’s nothing to be angry about at the moment.

The Penguins could have been closer to contention with a better 2022 offseason, and the reason they are not better off is surely not the results of Malkin’s and Letang’s play nor their salary cap hits.

No, the part that deserves to be roundly criticized is the 35+ designations of the contracts and what comes next.

Hextall had a bad track record with new contracts. He signed Jeff Carter to a three-deal with a 35+ designation, which very quickly bit the Penguins on the flippers.

–Many seem to be confused about what the 35+ designation actually means. After the 2012-13 CBA agreement, the NHL changed the rules regarding signing players over 35 years old. Following cap circumvention abuses, the NHL attached a potential penalty to prevent additional deals in which teams front-loaded contracts to older players but added term to avoid large cap hits.

The players would naturally retire before the contract was over, and tada! The signing team paid most of the money owed AND got an older star player at a discount cap hit.

The NHL said nay nay, and 35+ contracts would count against the team’s salary cap for the entirety of the contract, regardless of whether the player retired or bolted for the KHL. It was a fair rule, but the downside correction was that any player who signed a contract after age 35 was held to rules, and so teams were reluctant to offer contracts to players 35 years and older.

–However, a few years ago, the NHL amended the 35+ rules to allow contracts to avoid the penalties IF the contracts were not front-loaded. In other words, if a 35-year-old signed a four-year deal with equal salaries in all four seasons, there would be no penalty. If a team included a signing bonus in the first few years of the contract, then the deal becomes subject to the cap penalty if the player does not complete the deal.

Hextall included signing bonuses, thus front-loading Malkin’s and Letang’s deals. The Penguins would be subject to cap penalties if Malkin didn’t complete the four-year deal and Letang didn’t play until he was 41 years old, completing his six-year deal.

Seriously, signing a player to play until he’s 41?!

And that was Hextall’s great mistake and the great folly of the Malkin and Letang contracts. Hextall caved and included an ironclad no-movement clause, so there was absolutely no need to include signing bonuses to protect the players from being ushered out the door before they were ready.

Hextall issued that protection with the NMCs, meaning the bonuses were an accounting matter. Sadly, the mistake then transferred the burden back to the players to finish those ridiculous terms.

While Malkin posted more than competent point totals last season, his play is clearly on the way down. He has two more years remaining and bad wheels that aren’t getting better.

Injuries have bugged Letang throughout his career, and getting older certainly won’t help.

Had Hextall not included the signing bonuses, both players would be free to choose their destiny and retire when they choose or Father Time insists. Both might have been tradeable, too.

Instead, the team and players are bound by the blood oath of 35+, and no other team would touch either contract despite the short-term benefit. Malkin has two years remaining, and his exit will usher in the rebuild, but Letang has four years remaining, meaning as the Penguins’ rebuild is taking hold, Letang will still be on the books.

Few, if any, superstars have had such vocal critics within their own fanbase as those two-thirds of the Penguins’ core three. The critics didn’t arrive before 2022, though the aging stars have recently given them more ammunition both with their on-ice play and their presence is delaying the eagerly awaited rebuild.

Without the potential penalties of the 35+, the deals would have been beneficial to team and player, but they are instead albatrosses to both. And that’s the big mistake.