Pens Notes: Malkin, Kennedy, Defensive Depth, Power Play & more

Friday Morning's Pens Notes

While driving into the office this morning, heard Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma on 93.7 The Fan. Here are some tidbits from Bylsma's interview with the The Fan morning show...

-- On Evgeni Malkin: Bylsma said reports coming back to him is that Malkin continues to workout extremely hard and believes he will be in the best shape of his career for camp.

Bylsma even mentioned he got a call from Sergei Gonchar recently who said he's never seen Malkin in this type of shape and working out as hard.

Bylsma also confirmed that Malkin could have returned in the playoffs. Bylsma said at the time of the injury, initial diagnosis from doctors is that Malkin's rehab would have went just a few days after the Cup Finals but as it's been noted in the past, the surgery was not as severe as doctors thought it was going to be.

Bylsma said he believes Malkin might have been able to return as early as the late second round/early third round. Bylsma expressed confidence Malkin would have played if the team reached the Finals.