Russia is home for Pittsburgh Penguins Evgeni Malkin now -NHL Lockout Update
The locked out National Hockey League (NHL) has been a major cause for intense frustration between the players and team owners as both sides have failed to reach a deal despite being two and a half months into negotiations ever since the previous collective bargaining agreement came to an end in September.
For Evgeni Malkin, it feels like the regular season kicked off when it should have, along with the fact that the player is not just doing fine, but much more than that as he was one of the few smart ones that signed on with a foreign club as soon as he saw that negotiations could go on for a long, long time.
Playing with hometown Russian club, the Mettallurg Magnitogorsk, Malkin is feeling more at home than he ever was in the North American major league and may not even comeback if a 2012-2013 regular season kicks off back there.
“I’m happy with everything in Magnitogorsk,” the website for Russian English language television channel RT TV quoted Malkin as saying to reporters after telling them he doesn’t miss the NHL. “We have a great team. We win a lot. I’m in good shape and get plenty of ice time.”
What worries him the most about the lockout is the fact that team owners, who are extremely wealthy in his personal views, are going against those that actually help them in earning it and make some of their own on the side. It has cause a number of jobs to be cut and a lot of the lesser earning player group to go without a paycheck for some time now.
“They are billionaires and argue with us, those who make living only through sports. I’ve signed a good contract with Magnitigorsk … but many guys are now sitting without money.”
What seems to be thrilling now is to see whether teammate and Pittsburgh Penguins captain, Sidney Crosby, will make the move abroad that Evgeni Malkin made quite a few weeks ago and is enjoying is trip abroad while others struggle to find opportunities now as the season across the globe has already kicked off.
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