PITTSBURGH — The Evgeni Malkin mystery finally ended Thursday as the hockey star surfaced in Los Angeles with his agents, five days after slipping away from his Russian Super League team during training camp in Helsinki, Finland, and vanishing from sight.

Less than 24 hours after flying from Finland to the United States, the Pittsburgh Penguins' draft pick showed up, naturally enough, on a hockey rink. He skated with about 20 NHL players at the Los Angeles Kings' practice rink in El Segundo, trading passes and working out with players such as Rob Blake, Glen Murray, Chris Simon and Anson Carter.

"He got in a great workout today," agent Pat Brisson told The Associated Press. "He's going to stay here for a while, until we can move forward with Pittsburgh."

Malkin's next step is to try to get on the Penguins' ice for the start of their rookie camp in early September. Malkin's agents, J.P. Barry and Brisson of CAA Sports, are working with lawyers to determine when the 2004 No. 2 draft pick can join them.

"We have been informed by Evgeni Malkin's agents that Evgeni is now in the United States," Penguins general manager Ray Shero said in the first statement by the team regarding Malkin's situation. "At the appropriate time, we look forward to sitting down with Evgeni and his representatives to discuss what can be a very bright future with the Pittsburgh Penguins."

The Penguins would have one of the NHL's best 1-2 center combinations with Sidney Crosby and the 20-year-old Malkin, often called the best player in the world not currently in the NHL.

Malkin agreed less than two weeks ago to a one-year contract to keep playing for his hometown Metallurg Magnitogorsk. The deal circumvented a previous deal that ran through 2008, and apparently was agreed to by Malkin under pressure during a late-night negotiating session.

After reworking that contract, with Russian agents who have long had ties to the Metallurg team, Malkin changed North American agents for the second time this summer in an attempt to get into the NHL immediately. Then, after arriving in Helsinki, he left his team, took his belongings and passport and joined Barry, and the two stayed hidden until a U.S. visa was granted Wednesday.

Malkin's agents had previously declined to reveal where he was staying to make certain the player remained safe. Malkin's disappearance was front-page news in Russia, where the Olympic team star is considered one of the country's top athletes.

Within hours of Malkin leaving his team, the North American agents faxed a letter of resignation Sunday to the Metallurg team. Under Russian law, Malkin can quit his job by giving two weeks' notice, even if he is under contract. He had also sent such a notice in July, before he negotiated the new contract.

Once the two-week period is up, it is believed that Malkin can sign an entry-level, three-year contract with the Penguins that could be worth close to $1 million a year, plus as much as $2.8 million a year in incentives, though Malkin's agents are still deciding what legal steps to take.

The Russian team has threatened to sue, though previous legal attempts by Russian teams to get back players who jumped to the NHL were thrown out of U.S. courts.

Malkin's contract will be identical to that of the player drafted immediately ahead of him in 2004, NHL rookie of the year Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals. Ovechkin's Moscow Dynamo team also tried legally to get him to return last year, but the case was thrown out of U.S. District Court.

The NHL has not publicly stated any support for Malkin, but deputy commissioner Bill Daly said the league believes any player should have the right to choose where he wants to play as long as he is legally free to do so.