Malkin denies getting one teammate traded, talks about respect for another, throws shade at Panarin

Evgeni Malkin has been a busy man, despite the lower body injury that has put him on the shelf for what is believed to be a month or more. In a recent interview with Match TV in Russia, Malkin addressed the Phil Kessel trade and political tensions among Russian hockey players in the NHL.

Malkin said that rumours abounded during the offseason that either he or Kessel would be moved. After speaking with Pens head coach Mike Sullivan and GM Jim Rutherford, he was told to not worry or listen to rumours and that he would "stay with the team."

As for Kessel, Malkin did not sound surprised that he was traded. Issues between Kessel and Sullivan, as well as salary cap difficulties, forced the Penguins hand. Malkin said that he was "fifty-fifty" on the surprise factor of the Kessel trade. Malkin said that Rutherford had to do the business side of hockey and had there not been salary cap problems, he'd have loved to play with Kessel and Galchenyuk.

"It doesn't matter who is on the roster," Malkin added. "Now we have to win games."

Asked if he had seen Panarin's now infamous interview where he discussed politics and criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin and how he, a well-known Putin supporter who joined Alex Ovechkin's "Putin Team," felt about it, Malkin felt a need to unburden himself.

"To be honest, in my opinion, Panarin contradicts himself," Malkin said. "If I remember the interview, he said that he doesn't like hockey fans telling him how to play. People who comment, despite never having played hockey themselves...Panarin says that's not right. But then we shouldn't barge into politics...it's not our field of expertise, we're far removed from it.

"Politics is built on lies. There is a lot of information which we are not given, which we are not privy to! We don't know what goes on behind closed doors. What we see on the TV is about one percent of the truth."

Malkin conceded that while he does not share Panarin's glum view that things in Russia have gotten worse during the 20-odd years of Putin's leadership, there are problems, but they should not be all blamed on one man.

"I respect Putin," he stated. "This is my own opinion of the man. He is always intelligent and well-mannered, with a sense of humor. He conducts himself with dignity, in my opinion. He is the face of Russia. I respect him as a person. He has his own vision [in politics]. There are errors he may not notice. There are things which have crumbled with time."

Malkin went on to reiterate that people far away from the situation should not be "shoveling dirt" on their country. At that point he said that perhaps he should not say any more.

But he continued speaking from his soapbox, suggesting that patriotism is a healthy thing and a custom from the days of the USSR when citizens 'volunteered' their time on Saturdays to do community service-type work, may need to be reinstated. And while continuing to remind everyone that non-politicians should stay out of politics, gave a rather questionable quote for a man whose net worth of $35 million (as of 2017) was built mostly in the United States. This was his take on Putin's foreign policy especially in regards to what may be a new arms race.

"I never liked when people said that 'we need to be friends with the West, with America, with everyone.' There are no friends!" Malkin stated. " Only we [Russians] are friends to each other. The rest is just political relationships. Today you are friendly, tomorrow you go to war. We've done that [in our history]."

"I like the West, America. But friendship is too strong a word. Our first priority is to defend our home. Then we need to fix the internal problems, so that people can live in comfort."

Source: MatchTV

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