MOSCOW, June 30 President of NHL Club Hockey Operations ) The Pittsburgh Penguins' Brian Burke said forward Evgeni Malkin and defenseman Chris Letang would be signed to new contracts only on «reasonable terms». In 2013, the Russian signed a contract with Pittsburgh for 8 years starting from the 2014/15 season for a total of $76 million. Letang's 8-year, $58m deal also expires in July.
"We want to sign both. Everyone must clearly understand this. We would like to bring both players back, but they have to return for terms and salaries that make sense. And if not, they will leave the team. We want them to renew their contracts, but they have to come back on numbers that make sense and don't tie our hands. For us it is very simple. They must renew contracts on reasonable terms, otherwise they will leave the club", the NHL website quotes Bourke with reference to "The Jeff Marek Show".
«We made a determined effort to meet with Letang and sign it. Negotiations with Malkin are less decisive just because we need to know how much money we have to work with. We need to put this puzzle together. We are in direct negotiations with Malkin's agent, but less intense. There must be some kind of sequence. One has to sign [a contract] and then the other, or maybe neither of them. But the climax is coming soon,» Bourke noted. . He played 981 NHL games with the Penguins, scoring 1,146 points (444 goals + 702 assists). In the past regular season in 41 games, Malkin scored 20 goals and gave 22 assists.