As expected the Pittsburgh Penguins have re-signed Evgeni Malkin to a five-year contract extension, which will commence for the 2009-10 season following the completion of the final year of his current entry level contract.

No official word yet on the financial terms but it's believed to be in the neighborhood of $8.5 million per season .

So much for the baseless speculation in recent weeks that Malkin didn't want to play second fiddle to Sidney Crosby or wanted as much money as Alexander Ovechkin.

I realize some folks believe the Penguins should've focused on re-signing wingers Marian Hossa and Ryan Malone and shopped Malkin but let's face it, when you've got two of the top young centers in the game and have the opportunity to re-sign them, you do it.

The Penguins are expected to open contract extension talks with another young center, Jordan Staal, later this month.

A lack of scoring wingers is still a problem for Penguins management but that's something that can be potentially resolved in the coming days or weeks, albeit with more affordable acquisitions.

This move potentially ties up over $17 million in cap space for the Penguins starting in 2009-10, but given the ownership's new willingness to keep pace with the cap and absorb losses over the next two seasons whilst awaiting the construction of their new arena, that might not be as problematic as it appears.