Malkin to Serve as Alternate Captain (for October)

I think Pittsburgh Penguins center, Evgeni Malkin, let "the cat out of the bag" to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review who is reporting that he will be donning the "A" during the month of October. According to Malkin, they will be rotating duties every month, but head coach Michel Therrien would not confirm this saying that an announcement would be made sometime this weekend.

"First month," Malkin said after practice at Globe Arena. "We'll rotate."

Coach Michel Therrien did not confirm the decision, saying an
announcement on his club's alternates would be made "this weekend."

It would seem, though, that Malkin will definitely be an alternate as he told Rossi that the coaches informed him of the decision yesterday.

Much has been made about the fact that Malkin is just now grasping the English language and would fail to sufficiently perform one of his duties as an alternate captain to speak with on-ice officials. I thought about it and at first it would seem logical that this would prove to be difficult, but, as the article also points out, after listening to him speak more in English these past few weeks without the help of an interpreter, this is no longer an issue as far as I'm concerned (his teammates seem to understand him enough to allow them to be successful -- and this was already occurring last season when his English was limited). Take it from Malkin, relax and calm down about the English, people!

"It'll be OK," Malkin said of speaking to NHL on-ice officials. "No worries."

Rossi, still petitioning for Brooks Orpik to be named as an alternate captain, said that Orpik would "neither confirm or deny" when asked (Rossi also added, "perhaps not on a rotating basis." This would confirm that Rossi is, in fact, Orpik's biggest fan / supporter OR maybe just head-over-hills in love with him - I haven't figured it out yet)!

But I have to add that he's not wrong in his thinking. Orpik has matured since he first stepped on the ice as a Penguin and he's recently shown alot of leadership qualities.

You can't go wrong with either of these guys (or both)!!