Evgeni Malkin’s 2018-19 season proved to be a hot take factory as everyone had an opinion on how he actually played, and a counter-take to every disagreement.
It can basically be summed up like this: He had good numbers, he probably did not play as well as he could have or should have, and everyone — including Malkin himself — acknowledged he needed to have a better year this season if the Penguins were going to make another run at another Stanley Cup.
That bounce-back became even more important once the Penguins started losing what seems to be two players per game to injury, including Malkin himself.