There’s been plenty of great commercials featuring NHL stars over the years.
But none has been just as special as the one that several Pittsburgh Penguins stars were in in the middle of the 2000s.
When Evgeni Malkin first came to Pittsburgh, he didn’t know the language. It took some time for him to get used to his new city and his new team.
But it helped to have Sergei Gonchar around. For his first three seasons, Malkin lived with Gonchar and his wife, Xenia.
Malkin and Gonchar had played together two seasons earlier, during the NHL lockout 2004-05. Malkin and Gonchar became great friends, and if you saw the veteran strolling around in Pittsburgh, Malkin was almost always there with him.
Malkin won the Calder Trophy for his rookie season in Pittsburgh. Not long after that, he was in a car commercial with some of his Pens teammates, and it became an instant classic.
Not so much because of what Malkin did in the commercial, but what Max Talbot did. The premise of the commercial was simple. Colby Armstrong went to a local dealership to pick a new BMW when he happened to bump into Talbot.
Talbot starts saying the most awkward things in what can only be described as one of the worst acting jobs we’ve ever seen.
After a few seconds—that feels like minutes—the camera zooms out to reveal Sergei Gonchar, who threw his car keys to Malkin, who doesn’t really say anything.
The commercial is legendary and hilarious to watch, but the story behind it is even better. As it turns out, Malkin wasn’t even supposed to be in the commercial.
But Sergei Gonchar was, and Malkin was just following him around all day. Malkin was asked to be a part of the commercial, which he accepted, but only if he didn’t need to say anything, the dealership’s owner told Sportsnet.
Just take a look at what has to be one of the best commercials of all time.
