Evgeni Malkin

Evgeny Malkin is a Russian hockey player, a center forward for the NHL club Pittsburgh Penguins. He is a three-time winner of the Stanley Cup and two-time world champion.

Malkin started his professional hockey career in Metallurg Magnitogorsk. At the age of 16, he was invited to the youth team of the Urals region. Two years later, as a member of the Russian team he went to his first World Junior Championship in Minsk. The team returned from Belarus with gold medals, Malkin won his first championship. As a member of the Russian youth team, the hockey player twice won silver medals.

In 2004 he was drafted by Pittsburgh Penguins as the #2 overall pick in the first round of the NHL Entry Draft. Since 2006 Malkin plays for Pittsburgh Penguins, he is the club's alternate captain, which means that during the absence of team captain for any reason Evgeny performs his functions and has the rights of the captain.

In his first season in the National Hockey League in 2006/2007, Malkin was named NHL Rookie of the Year. Two years later as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Malkin won his first Stanley Cup. The 2008/2009 season was the best of his career for the Russian forward. In the NHL regular season, Malkin scored 113 points and won the Art Ross Trophy. This season brought him another important trophy. In 2009, Evgeny became the first Russian hockey player to win the Conn Smythe Trophy - an individual award, whose winner is chosen by members of the NHL Sports Journalists Association at the end of the Stanley Cup final.