MONTREAL -- Penguins coach Michel Therrien today named center and NHL leading scorer Evgeni Malkin an alternate captain for the remainder of the season.

Defenseman Brooks Orpik will be the other alternate captain until defenseman Sergei Gonchar returns from shoulder surgery, which the team is hopeful will happen later this month.

Center Sidney Crosby is the permanent team captain, and Therrien had been naming new alternates each month with the idea that Gonchar would reclaim his permanent "A" when he got back in the lineup. Malkin and Orpik were the alternates for the first month of the season.

First Published: February 3, 2009, 7:45 p.m.