Don't Call Evgeni Malkin the Gronk of the NHL

I'm standing in the Pittsburgh Penguins locker room one afternoon after practice, and everyone is watching a movie on Lifetime—The Secret Sex Life of a Single Mom. Well, not watching, but it’s on. Sidney Crosby stirs up a crescendo of “Um, what is this?” that bounces from player to player until someone finally gets up and mutes the TV. But Marc-André Fleury, the team's goalie, is amused. He quietly presses a button and reintroduces the show with a smirk. The haze of melodrama and mid-life on the screen is a studied contrast to the testosterone in the room. But hey, who is going to question your masculinity when you’ve won the Stanley Cup?

Enter Evgeni Malkin, the assistant captain for the Pittsburgh Penguins. At a commanding 6-foot-3 (5 inches with skates) he boasts a face that is battered but handsome, with a grin that’s the opposite of toothless. He quickly riles up the boys and gets them clowning again. I mean, what else can we reasonably expect from a player whose reputation is punctuated by his ownership of a prison-themed restaurant called "VIP Zone" in Magnitogorsk? And who tweets goofy stuff like, well, this?

But, at 29, Malkin isn't quite so easy to caricature; he is no Gronk of the NHL. In person he is reserved, and speaks Russian in his reticence with broken (but improving) English. His nationalism, on the other hand, is unmistakeable. It bleeds so red that he could have skated for the USSR at Lake Placid in 1980.

Soon after we talk, the Penguins will meet the Washington Capitals, and lose 1-4. The rivalry has been enhanced by the fact that the Penguins had recently fired their coach. But the pairing to watch is always Malkin and Alexander Ovechkin (the Capitals' captain), two Russian forwards who have been the focus of comparison—and the center of rumors of clashing—since they were drafted second and first, respectively, in 2004...

GQ: So is there a sense of camaraderie among the Russian players in the NHL?

Oh, yeah, of course. We’re friends here. Everyone, we go to dinner together and if I see Alexander Ovechkin or Pavel Datsyuk [of the Detroit Red Wings] or Nikolay Kulemin [of the New York Islanders], it’s all friends. We play national team, we spend time in Moscow sometimes. All good friend and try to support each other.

What did you think about Ovechkin’s 484th goal on November 19, making him the highest-scoring Russian-born player in the history of the NHL?

It’s amazing numbers and it’s not over. He’s just 30 and it’s not last goal. I mean, he can score, I know, maybe four more hundred goals. He scores every year a lot of goals. He’s a good guy, good player. I mean, I’m happy he scored but he’s not over. We’re different. I mean, I’m a little bit different player. He’s more shoot puck and I play center. I’m a little different. I’m happy when he scores, maybe he happy when I’m scoring. We’re good friends. We play national team together.

And you were drafted together…

Yeah, drafted together, because I was second. We spent time in Moscow a little bit together, you know. We play basketball one day, you know, I come to his house. We play four-on-four. It’s fun time, you know, we eat dinner with his family. He’s a really good guy.

How do you prepare for games, any sort of superstitions?

It’s all secret because I do this long time. Of course I do something, but it’s all secret.

What do you want our readers to know about you—as a personality and as a player?

[Laughs.] Personality, I’m a quiet guy. I like stay at home with my family and friends and girlfriend, you know. About my hockey, I play center. I’m a big guy. It’s a physical game. Like everything. I love hockey and I’ve played for 23 years, it’s long time.

Are you physical, as a player?

I like physical game. When I go to skate to corner, play one-on-one against defenseman, I use my body and use my shoulders. I like to play here because it’s a physical game.

What do you consider your best fight?

Fight? I’m not have a lot of fights. I don’t like fights, so it’s a tough question because I only have two fights against Henrik Zetterberg [of the Detroit Red Wings] and Rick Nash [of the New York Rangers] but it’s not really fight. It’s just quick, five seconds. A scuffle, and no bleeding. Nothing.

What’s the difference between North American players and Russian players?

Maybe a little bit because when we grow up we play in Russia it’s a little bit different hockey. It’s bigger ice. You have more room. We not play, most Russian guys not play physical. Most Russian guys are skills guys because it’s a little bit difference practice. We use stick handle, you know. We play puck. It’s a little bit different hockey. I think it’s Russian: not physical and maybe a little bit more skills.

You’ve received a bunch of awards, over the course of your career. Which has meant the most?

I think each one is very important for me but if we take one I think it’s the Conn-Smythe because I know it’s the Stanley Cup but my trophy is important, too, because I know I’m first Russian guy who won this trophy. It’s good. Sometimes, it’s very important because I know I work hard all year. It’s long year, long playoffs, and we win the Stanley Cup and the NHL gave me the Conn-Smythe.

Did you cry? Or do Russians not cry?

I cry when I’m taking Stanley Cup because it’s my game. It’s my first big trophy because I never win trophies with this team. It’s my first one, it’s big one. Because I’m not in Russia. It’s very important because I lost Stanley Cup finals before and it’s the first final I win and it’s huge and, of course, I’m a little bit crying but it’s happy.

Who's the funniest guy on your team?

I say it’s Duper [a.k.a. Pascal Dupuis] and Flower [a.k.a. Marc-André Fleury]. They’re cool guys. They try to talk Russian, say a little bit Russian. They’re fun guys.

What do they say?

Most time it’s bad words.

Who parties the most?

Most guys married here. I don’t know about young guys. Beau Bennett and Dumo [a.k.a. Brian Dumoulin], yes, the young guys, but most guys have family, kids, you know. It’s a long season, after games guys try go home. We have a team routine, I mean, it’s Christmas party maybe but it’s Halloween party. Some Superbowl parties. Sometimes we watch all together, but not every game after we go out.

What were you for Halloween?

Yeah, Halloween. I be with my girlfriend and we two cops. It’s cool time. We go to nightclub, we eat dinner, a little bit dancing. It’s fun time.

What's Crosby like, off the ice?

It’s good question, too, but I think like everyone it’s eat lunch with couple guys and go home and relax, you know. He loves to go out sometimes, too, you know. He’s cool guy. He’s funny. Leadership, good leadership.

Why don’t we chat about your girlfriend?

It’s not girlfriend it’s like wife now because we’re engaged.

Congratulations!

Yeah, thank you. She’s from Moscow. I mean, she’s from Russia. She stayed with me first year and we are two years together. It’s tough time, but it’s cool time. She not really speak English but little bit tough for her now but she like here. She stay with me, live and learn and new guys, new friends. It’s little bit new for her.

Why haven’t you found a girlfriend for Crosby so you can double date?

[Laughs.] It’s very different. I think maybe he’s not ready now, I’m ready now because I’m a little bit older. He says he will after when I’m engaged he say, “It’s my time now.” But he’s still a little bit younger, but maybe next year.

How are American girls different from Russian girls?

I don’t know. I never have American girls. It’s tough question because I never stay with American girls, only Russian.

So, there’s much going on between Russia and ISIS. What do you think about Vladimir Putin’s response?

I see that but I not think about that. It’s not my job, I mean. What I think is all inside me but I never talk about that because it’s not my job, I’m not politics. If he says that, he’s president of Russia and everything he do I think is right because we believe him. He’s good leader from Russia and if he say, I agree.

How often do you return to Russia, and what do you do?

First, I’ll see my friends because, you know, I miss my friends and we not see long time. But what I do is I come back to Moscow and after I go to vacation in Europe a couple weeks, maybe longer. But then afterwards start a little bit work. Work with my coach and it’s pretty same day, every day. Wake up in the morning and work out and go out with my friends, maybe fishing sometimes, sometimes hunting. I try to do interesting things. Maybe go to cinema with my friends. Every day is a little different, but I try to make my day interesting.

What’s the coolest thing you’ve ever hunted?

I don’t know how it’s called. I don’t know words, how to say to you.

Say it in Russian.

Okhota na kabana. [Translation: Hunting Wild Boar.]

This interview has been edited and condensed.