The ice beneath a rock-solid franchise was cracking. Baffling, infuriating and disastrous decisions by Penguins brass inflamed some of the team's most important players, caused a rift with their coach and angered the fan base and team ownership.
Hextall first irritated Malkin late in the 2021-22 season by offering a short-term contract extension to his agent, J.P. Barry. In the offseason that animosity built as weeks passed without a follow-up conversation from Hextall. On June 17, Hextall told Barry that the team’s offer was “take-it-or-leave-it,” and the next day Burke used those words to characterize the negotiations during multiple media interviews. Not surprisingly, Malkin, a sure Hall-of-Famer, went from annoyed to insulted.
After tucking in their son, Nikita, Malkin and his wife, Anna, sat on their leather couch and looked at a summary sheet of Hextall’s latest offer: four seasons, $24.4 million total, a full no-movement clause.“They not think I good player,” Malkin wrote in a text message to Crosby. The Penguins were one of six expansion NHL franchises in 1967-68, but they didn’t come of age — and in fact, had once gone bankrupt in the 1970s — until they drafted Mario Lemieux with the top pick in 1984. He wasted no time leaving an indelible mark on Pittsburgh, crafting one of the NHL’s greatest careers and sport’s most inspiring stories, turning the Penguins into back-to-back Stanley Cup champions while overcoming injuries and illness, before retiring prematurely.
Morehouse had scrambled to find GM candidates and was surprised to discover most of his top choices weren’t too interested in running the Penguins for one big reason: Morehouse sought a willingness from the next heads of hockey in Pittsburgh to break up the Big Three. Though unimpressed with Hextall’s lack of preparation, FSG officials didn’t feel comfortable enough about their hockey acumen to question his details — except one. Hextall’s plan included a 2022-23 season with Crosby but without Malkin and Letang.
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