Dallas Stars deny report of tampering with Evgeni Malkin

Evgeni Malkin's father reportedly told Sovetsky Sport that the Stars offered his son a contract. (Gregory Shamus/NHL/Getty Images)

A translated Russian media report raised questions of tampering after Evegni Malkin's father said the Dallas Stars had made a contract offer to the Penguins star. The Stars quickly countered with a statement denying the report. Here's the Stars' reply via Mike Heika of The Dallas Morning News:

I talked to Jim Nill today, and he read me this statement about the quote from Evgeni Malkin’s father that the Stars somehow made a contract offer to Malkin even though he was under contract to the Pittsburgh Penguins. That would be tampering under the NHL’s rules.

Here is Nill’s statement:

“We have seen the reports that have surfaced out of Russia claiming that we have tampered and they are completely untrue.  The Dallas Stars organization respects and adheres to all rules and regulations set forth by the National Hockey League and any report that claims otherwise is false.”

Heika reported an NHL source said the league's policy is to investigate these situations only if an aggrieved party believes a rule was broken -- but at this time, the NHL does not appear to be investigating.

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PensBurgh translated a Sovetsky Sport report quoting Malkin's father, Vladimir Malkin:

You know, Dallas was offering my son an even bigger contract than Pittsburgh, and Zhenya responded "No, I don't want to go there." They signed Sergei Gonchar. His best friend is playing there. Why not take it?