Rating: 97
Height: 192cm/6'4"
Weight: 84kg/184.8 lb
Position: Center
Shoots: Left
Born: 1986-07-31
Birthplace: Magnitagorsk, Russia

2004 U18 WJC (April 2004) (Grade: A): Despite the concerns that the concussion he suffered a couple of months earlier would sideline the young forward from the U18 WJC, Evgenii Malkin looked very strong during the training campe, showing no signs of the injury. He delivered an excellent performance at tournament. The talented center started the tournament off a bit slow, with his line struggling to put the puck in the net. As the tournament went on, Malkin’s production returned to normal, and the center finished second in scoring on the Russian squad behind only Roman Voloshenko. The young forward possesses a great combination of size, skill and hockey sense. He did not hesitate to throw his body around and often dictated the tempo of the game with his speed, passing and great puckhandling.

A big difference between the U18 WJC and the previous tournaments was the fact that Malkin was forced to carry his line a lot more than before. At the previous tournaments, which were mostly against European squads, his smaller linemates Denis Parshin and Dmitri Shitikov could hold their own physically against the opponents. The two young forwards, especially Parshin, struggled to adjust to the more physical hockey against bigger opponents. Malkin did effectively interact with Parhsin, who set up Malkin up on several occasions. He also played well with Kiril Lyamin, who often skated with the forwards in the offensive zone. Shitikov’s role was more that of clean up, as he scored most of his goals by collecting the rebounds near the crease and putting them in the net. While Malkin was effective in the earlier games of the tournament, he really revved up his game during the semifinals and finals games against Canada and the US. Against Canada, the talented center was a threat whenever he hit the ice and set up an open net goal by Shitikov early in the game, and then scored a goal of his own. Regardless of his production, which was impressive on its own, Malkin showed a lot of leadership, delivering a consistent presence at both ends of the ice and taking a lot of pressure off his linemates, as well as the other lines. The young forward was solid defensively throughout the tournament, logging a lot of time in shorthanded situations.

2003 World Cup (August

RP Draft Projection: top five pick in the first round.