Evgeni Malkin — hockey (nhl) with roots in the USSR
Evgeni Vladimirovich Malkin was born on 31 July 1986 in Magnitogorsk, the steel city of the southern Urals, then in the Russian SFSR of the Soviet Union, the son of Vladimir and Natalia Malkin. He came through the hockey programme of his hometown club, Metallurg Magnitogorsk, playing for its junior and senior teams, and represented Russia at youth level, winning silver at the 2006 world junior championship, where he was named the tournament's most valuable player.
The Pittsburgh Penguins chose him second overall in the 2004 NHL Draft, immediately after Alexander Ovechkin, but a dispute over international transfers delayed his move. In August 2006, having signed a one-year deal with Metallurg that he later said was made under pressure, he left the team's training camp in Helsinki and spent several days there awaiting a visa before travelling to Pittsburgh, where Mario Lemieux presented him with his jersey in September. A shoulder injury postponed his NHL debut to 18 October 2006.
Playing alongside Sidney Crosby, he finished his first season with 33 goals and 85 points and won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year. In 2008–09 he led the league with 113 points to win the Art Ross Trophy, then led all players in playoff scoring as Pittsburgh won the Stanley Cup, receiving the Conn Smythe Trophy, the first Russian to do so. In 2012 he won a second Art Ross, by a twelve-point margin, together with the Hart Trophy and the Ted Lindsay Award. He won further Stanley Cups with Pittsburgh in 2016 and 2017.
For Russia he played at the Olympic Games of 2006, 2010 and 2014 and won world championship medals. He has spent his entire NHL career with the Penguins, signing long-term extensions in 2008 and 2022. In May 2026, at thirty-nine, after a season of 19 goals and 61 points, he signed a further one-year contract, taking him into a twenty-first season with the club in 2026–27; he has said that his body would decide whether it would be his last. Alongside his play he has run the 'I'm Score for Kids' initiative, supporting the Ronald McDonald House in Pittsburgh.
"Left Metallurg Magnitogorsk's training camp in Helsinki in August 2006 to join the Pittsburgh Penguins, with whom he has played ever since."
Migration storyTracing the roots — Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk Oblast (Russia)
Born in Magnitogorsk in 1986 to Vladimir and Natalia Malkin, he came through his hometown club Metallurg Magnitogorsk and played for its senior team before joining the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2006.
Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk Oblast (Russia). At the time, this region was one of the fifteen republics of the Soviet Union.
A career defined by ambition
"Hockey is everything in Magnitogorsk. You play or you work in the factory."