Major Knee Injury Likely Finishes Malkin

In what was supposed to be a glorious return for Evgeni Malkin, coming back to the Pittsburgh Penguins line-up from a sinus infection, but his return was marred by a devastating injury, which will likely end his season.

In what was an awkward set of circumstances against the Sabres on Friday night, Malkin was caught along the boards by a falling Tyler Myers, having the brunt of the defender's huge frame slam against Malkin's legs.  Malkin was down and out after the play, left the game and obviously didn't return.  Tests on Saturday revealed that Malkin suffered a torn ACL and MCL, which will likely mean he'll miss the remainder of the season.

There is a concern that surgery may be needed to repair Malkin's knee, which will likely increase the time spent out of the line-up, likely finishing most hope for the playoff run as well.  A second opinion will be sought after by the player and the team, but that's what is likely for him.

Surgery or not, I think we can safely say that Malkin's season is done and he'll finish the season with 37 points (15 goals and 22 assists) in 44 games, which has him unofficially ranked 83rd in pool scoring this season.  This is really uncharted territory for the dynamic Russian, who has even won a pool scoring race, back in 2009, and has dazzled throughout his NHL career.

It does make me wonder how this will effect his draft placement for the 2012 season or the upcoming keeper league that I'm putting together.

The announcement, as terrible as it is, came at the most opportune time for Leon G., who had his turn in the waiver draft at about the same time.  Leon was able to drop Malkin in time, thus dropping a piece of dead weight from his team in time, but the loss of his 1st round pick will likely mean that there is little chance that Leon will be in the running for the last jersey price in the 3rd segment.

Leon went into Saturday's action in 9th place in the standings, 37 points out of the money and only a couple of points away from falling out of the top 10.  No matter who Leon is going to pick up, he can't possibly match the potential of Malkin's scoring presence.

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