It's the million-dollar question in Pittsburgh: Who will center Phil Kessel?

It's expected to be Sidney Crosby, the best hockey player on the planet, but Evgeni Malkin - not too shabby a center himself - wants to play with No. 81 too.

"Of course I want to play with Phil," Malkin said at Tuesday's NHL-NHLPA media tour in Toronto. If it's Kessel and Crosby, Malkin may "take my time" on line changes, in order to play with the sniper.

Crosby isn't concerned about who centers Kessel - he knows goals are in the Penguins' future.

I'm sure we'll both end up playing with him at some point during training camp. Everybody is excited to have him as a teammate, to know with one chance in the slot he can change a game pretty quickly. Those guys aren't easy to find. I think that regardless who plays with him, he's going to create a lot of offence.

The Toronto Maple Leafs traded Kessel to the Penguins for prospect Kasperi Kapanen, Nick Spaling, Scott Harrington, and first- and third-round picks in 2016. The Leafs are picking up $1.2 million of Kessel's salary through 2021-22. Kessel's cap hit comes in at $6.8 million.

Chicago Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews, who was also in attendance Tuesday in Toronto, hopes the Penguins can't come to a decision one way or another:

Hopefully they can't figure it out either. If they do, then we're all in trouble. That's an overdose of skill, if Kessel ends up playing with one or the other. It's pretty amazing what a pure sniper, pure goal-scorer could do with two guys that can move the puck and control the puck like Crosby and Malkin.

With Malkin or Crosby, Kessel should be a lock to score 40 goals - if not more - this season. The winger's former teammate James van Riemsdyk agrees:

... For him to go to a team like that, it seems like a good position for him. Not to put any more pressure on him, but I can see him having the highest goal total of his career. He landed in a good spot. It will be good for him.

Remember: It's possible Crosby, Kessel, and Malkin all play together on the Penguins' power play, which should be fun to watch.