Having your name etched onto the Stanley Cup is the highest honour you can receive in the sport of hockey. Some of the best players in the world never get to see their name engraved on the famous trophy, while others work exceptionally hard to get it.
Evgeni Malkin is one of the great players that has had the honour of receiving the engraving. In fact, he's had his name etched onto Lord Stanley's mug three times - 2009, 2016, and 2017. That's all points towards an amazing career for the future Hall of Famer, but there's one blemish - his name looks like it's spelled "Fvgeni Malkin" more often than not.
Back in 2016, there were questions raised about whether or not the person in charge of engraving the cup had messed it up. It looked to be pretty clearly spelling Evgeni's name with an F rather than the E that is written on his birth certificate. Upon further investigation and some different angles, it appears as though the lower half of the E was simply not engraved as thoroughly as the other letters. The engraving is done by hand after all.
(Malkin's name is in the second row from the bottom)
The Penguins responded by posting another angle of the engraving and there is in fact a bottom line to the E, it's just faded away and ultimately not captured in the photo.
Fair Enough, that is totally understandable.
But then, as soon as that all seemed to be in the past, this years engravings came out and what do you know? It once again looks like Malkin's first name is inexplicably spelled with an F!
(second row from the bottom)
This is very baffling. On both engravings there is only one letter that appears as though it may be wrong, and both times it is the E of the same player's name? Is this an inside joke that we are all missing out on? Does the engraver simply not know that his name is spelled with an E? What is happening?
We don't care how many angles the team shows of the cup, we want to know why Evgeni can't seem to get his name engraved properly. At least on the 2009 engraving, the E seems to actually be extra prominent.
(top row of players section)
Whether you like the Penguins or not, another cup heading to Pittsburgh would certainly come with an unexpected narrative: Will Evgeni finally return to the trophy, or will Fvgeni return for his third championship?
