OPINION

By Dave Molinari

updated 8:20 p.m. ET May 7, 2008

Evgeni Malkin isn't a secret anymore. Finishing second in the regular-season scoring race has taken care of that.

Not that he was anonymous in hockey circles before this season. It's tough to ignore a guy who was chosen second overall in his draft class and honored as rookie of the year in 2007. But even though Malkin didn't spend his first North American season and a half in the Witness Protection Program, he wasn't one of the game's more prominent personalities, either.

Some of that had to do with his tenuous command of the language; for much of his time in Pittsburgh, Malkin's version of a Russian-to-English dictionary could have fit comfortably on an index card -- with generous margins.

But more important, Malkin shared a sweater — and a position — with center Sidney Crosby, the league's reigning MVP and face of the NHL. Crosby's megawatts of star power left Malkin in the shadows most of the time last season, a role Malkin didn't seem to mind.

But all that changed after Crosby went down with a high ankle sprain in a Jan. 18 game against the Lightning. The question around Pittsburgh became whether the Penguins could somehow remain competitive until Crosby returned.

No problem.

With Malkin carrying the load on offense, talk quickly shifted to whether the Penguins could win the Atlantic Division, earn home-ice advantage for a round or two of the playoffs and even win the Eastern Conference's top seed. And, surprisingly, whether Malkin could overtake Washington's Alexander Ovechkin (the only player drafted ahead of him in 2004) and win the scoring title -- and maybe even become Crosby's successor as winner of the Hart Trophy.

The Penguins, who had hoped Malkin could keep them competitive during Crosby's absence, got a whole lot better than that best-case scenario. Malkin had 20 goals and 26 assists in the 29 games Crosby did not play, and he helped the Penguins to a 47-27-8 record that made their Atlantic title and No. 2 conference playoff seed possible.

"For him to step up and go on a tear the way he did, I don't think anybody expected that," Crosby says. Malkin didn't quite catch Ovechkin in the scoring race and probably will finish behind him in the MVP balloting, but he did establish himself as one of the game's dominant talents.

"Wow," forward Max Talbot says.

"That's all I can say about it. I was a little surprised, obviously, because the way he performed this year was amazing.

"I knew he was a gamer from the first time I saw him, taking hits and stuff, but the way he took the lead of this team was spectacular."

Defenseman Sergei Gonchar, with whom Malkin lives in Pittsburgh, insists he expected Malkin to rise to the challenge, but only the incurably optimistic shared that confidence.

"For the first time, he had the challenge to bring his game to another level because Sid was not there," Penguins coach Michel Therrien says. "He raised his game more than people expected."

Malkin's profile, however, didn't make a similar jump. He has become more outgoing than he was after arriving from Russia late in the summer of 2006, but he still conducts virtually all interviews with the aid of a translator and is guarded around people with whom he is not familiar. And even with many he does know.

That apparently is not how he acts behind closed locker room doors. When surrounded only by teammates, Malkin apparently morphs from sourpuss Soviet-era stereotype to a Yakov Smirnoff impersonator.

"He's kind of like a goofball," defenseman Ryan Whitney says. "He's always having fun, giving guys grief and laughing. He pretty much has a smile on his face all day. As his English gets better, you can joke around with him a little more."

Talbot, a French-Canadian from Montreal and Malkin's roommate on the road, doesn't have much in common with the young Russian aside from their chosen profession, but this odd couple has grown close.

"The more the year went on, the more fun it was," Talbot says. "We could communicate more and became friends. He is one of my best friends on the team." Talbot says "we chat about anything," even though they have to do it in English, a language neither grew up speaking. "We have no choice," Talbot adds, smiling.

They also watch a lot of movies together, and Malkin puts in long hours on his laptop, watching Russian films and staying in touch with friends back in Magnitogorsk.

That's also how he spends free time at the Gonchar residence.

"He's quiet, usually," Gonchar says. "He spends a lot of time on the computer, reading stuff about Russia and e-mailing, talking to his friends back home."

Malkin even takes on the occasional domestic chore, like grocery shopping or baby-sitting the Gonchars' daughter. "Whatever we ask him to do to help us, he pretty much does," Gonchar says.

That's how it works with the Penguins, too. Malkin's job description expanded this season to include penalty-killing and, in the waning days of the season, manning the point on the power play.

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