( A tweet from Mark Madden in October 2011)

 

Hey, look.

You make mistakes, we make mistakes, everyone makes mistakes.

But more often than not when you are "paid" to be an expert in something you don't make any " glaring," mistakes.

 

Enter Mark Madden. A so-called super genius. A guy that is supposed to know a lot about hockey.

Despite our tone, we don't mind Madden most of the time. He is on the few media members in Pittsburgh to understand how to talk hockey.

 

However, he hates Evgeni Malkin, will troll him at a moments notice. Because of his hyped reputation, this opinion filters down through his minions and spreads like an infection.

 

At the beginning of the season, with Malkin still getting himself together Mark Madden let loose on Malkin. He claimed, since he is an expert, that Malkin showed no signs of being an elite player.

 

Being it was back in October, this gave Madden plenty of time to backpedal. 

 

But as Madden found out, like so many times before, what you do on the Internet, echoes in eternity.

 

A repost of historically embarrassing column after the jump.

 

It isn't long, but it is too the point:

No one gets their collective panties in a bunch like Geno Nation.

After the Penguins' 4-3 loss at Toronto Saturday, I tweeted than Evgeni Malkin took some ill-advised penalties, and that Geno still needs production to consistently match artistry.

Reasonable opinions, especially since Malkin’s two penalties both ended up in the net behind Brent Johnson.

You’d have thought I crucified Malkin.

But just to make sure, Geno Nation nailed their hero to the cross anyway. Martyrdom, thy number is 71.

Here’s the bottom line with Malkin: He hasn’t been the same player since 2009, and despite the epiphany he supposedly experienced while rehabilitating his knee, I don’t see a new and improved Malkin. I see the same player we’ve seen the last two seasons.

That player is very good. But like Michel Therrien used to stress, Malkin’s talent merits being in the NHL’s top five scorers. Period.

True, injury has again intervened. It takes a while to recover from knee surgery.

But I still see some of the same flaws. Too much stickhandling. Not enough shooting. The occasional petulance. The only clear improvement is on faceoffs.

Give Malkin time? OK. How much time? Malkin has not been a consistently dominant player since 2009.

When does that guy show up again? That’s all I want to know.

 

"I don’t see a new and improved Malkin. I see the same player we’ve seen the last two seasons."