Dan’s Daily: ‘Canes Refuse Nikishin Trades? Malkin Future, Penguins Analysis

Evgeni Malkin may or may not be done playing hockey after this season, and he took a rather mature tone on Friday. Not all of the Penguins seem happy about the glut of players, and one wonders if it's affecting camp. After a couple of days, trends and players who are on their game are emerging, including some of coach Dan Muse's early defensive pairings and potential line combinations.

Elsewhere in the Daily, it's got a Russian flavor. Alexander Nikishin 's agent shot down KHL rumors but essentially accused the Carolina Hurricanes of sitting on trades for his player. Ukrainian advocates are asking the NHL to sanction Alex Ovechkin . Kirill Marchenko had a good one-liner about his future, but is keeping mum on details. And Sportsnet asked the question—how will some of these long-term contracts age?

I have no stories, no more observations to share this morning. After I got home from camp around 5 p.m., I promptly handled some business, ate a hamburger with the crusts as buns because apparently I hadn't done any grocery shopping in over a week, and fell asleep by 7 p.m. Honestly, such a trivial annoyance as using the crusts made me laugh to myself. Life can't be too bad if that's the biggest annoyance, eh?

I am definitely not in hockey shape yet. But the eight hours were nice. So, let's do this hockey…

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Evgeni Malkin . He either said, "I want to say yes" to playing another year, or "I won't say yes," but… It would mean the same. Malkin sounded a mature tone about his future and laid out the conditions under which he would want to play more years or retire. Evgeni Malkin held court .

What about Kris Letang ? Shelly Anderson had a chat with Letang and the future of the big three, too. Letang made a point of not being nostalgic about it .

Shells also talked with Filip Hallander about his future and what he's been through. Tell you what, Hallander looks pretty good in camp. Make no mistake, his journey and detour last season have made Hallander hungry .

PHN+: Two full days of observations and analysis, peppered with some of the conversations that I've had in the dressing room and reading between the lines. Come on back to PHN+—for a full accounting of Penguins training camp thoughts .

NHL Trade Talk, News, & National Hockey Now

NHLtraderumors.me: With some help from a Russian hockey writer, our buddy Dave Littman has the full story. Nikishin's agent indirectly blasted both Pierre LeBrun's report that Nikishin could return to the KHL and the Carolina Hurricanes for not trading Nikishin despite plenty of offers .

TSN: Ukrainian advocates aren't happy about Alex Ovechkin appearing in Vladimir Putin's political commercial and are asking the NHL to punish him for it .

We're in some real gray area here, aren't we? For the record, we have no plans to ask Malkin about any of this because, quite frankly, he's never taken a public stand. I don't know who tweeted it, but a media person suggested that if a player doesn't talk about politics, there's no reason to ask them about it. I like that standard. Ovechkin, however, has opened the door to being asked…

Sportsnet: The media giant referenced the Ville Koivunen contract as a bellwether, but didn't actually grade it. Instead, SN graded the deals that followed and which ones aren't going to age well .

The Athletic ($): Kirill Marchenko, the subject of so many trade rumors over the summer and reports that he won't sign in Columbus, did his preseason presser Friday. So, where does he want to play hockey? On the ice. Yep, he said it. Marchenko put on his tap shoes and danced around the hard questions but tried to be good to his teammates .

No, the Penguins can't steal Marchenko for merely second- and third-round picks, too.

Philly Hockey Now: Day 2 of Philly Flyers training camp. Will James has a good look at what's happening in Flyers camp .

Detroit Hockey Now: The lack of a GM in Detroit set contract negotiations back months with young defenseman Simon Edvinsson . But he's doing the team a solid and is in training camp without a new contract—but he had to sign a PTO?! Here's the scoop from Detroit Red Wings camp .