MOSCOW, Jul 8 National Hockey League (NHL) club Pittsburgh Penguins» Chris Letang said he would like his Russian teammate Evgeni Malkin to also remain in the club. On Thursday, the defender extended his contract with Pittsburgh. The new agreement is for six years with an average salary of 6.1 million dollars a year. «Malkin has already congratulated me. I told him:» I hope that you will do it soon. And we will all stay together.» The new contract is beneficial to both parties. It gives the team the opportunity to sign new players, but also pays tribute to my results. It is important for me to fight and win, and not just grab a big piece. We have two players with big names «Hopefully one of them will sign a new contract soon. When you have players like this and a leader like Crosby, anything is possible,» Letang told the NHL's official website. On account of his 941 regular season games, 144 goals and 506 assists. In the playoffs, he played 149 games, scored 23 goals and gave 67 assists. Malkin's agreement with Pittsburgh expires in July, he can become an unrestricted free agent. Malkin, 35, was selected by Pittsburgh in the 2004 draft in the first round, second overall. 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.
