Recchi Outscores Malkin, Bladerunners Close Gap

This is the last post for a while where I will cite the Malkin trade but as it was his first game in a Severed Heads uniform, it is fitting. He had two points last night. His first point, a goal, was assisted by Mark Recchi and Sidney Crosby. His night was somewhat overshone by the three point effort of Mr. Recchi who is already settling in nicely on the Bladerunner's right wing. A 12+pt night by the Bladerunners helped them to close the gap on the Highlanders a little more and gives them a huge lead in their Challenge Cup game against the Ramapithicines.

The big story of the early week is the fantastic start made by the Knights Templar. Last season following the second Waiver Draft the Knights went into a legendary tailspin that plummeted them from 3rd to last place. GMs are already referring to the calamity in their trade talks as they are fearfull of repeating the feat. With over 19pts so far this week, the Knights (along with the Personal Vendetta) are now over the 600pt barrier and are looking to put even more distance between themselves and another Herbivore. On the point of milestones, the Great Whites (with a very solid Tuesday of their own) become the third team to break through the 700pt mark.

In the Challenge Cup the Severed Heads are both losing their games while the Great Whites and Personal Vendetta are winning in theirs. For there to be any change in the current playoff picture, those in will need to lose their remaining games and those out will have to win theirs.

Here are the Stats following Tuesday's action:

Questions for the Severed Heads GM on the acquisition of Malkin

- Have you been after Malkin a long time?

Literally for years. We tried initially to trade for the pick used to select him, and have never stopped pursuing him in trade. We were looking at a deal this summer that would have used an existing FP and or Spezza to bring him over along with Staal, but obviously that fell through.

- Was it an easy trade to make?

Yes. Mgt had been really high on both Parise and Stastny, as they both represented solid victories for our scouting department in finding quality prospects later in the prospect draft.



Having a high calibre team means that you don't often get to pick early in the prospect draft, so finding gems others miss is a key for us and our scouts take pride in every player they unearth. Stastny in particular was a guy we really liked, but knew wouldn't be on many lists because he was a 2nd rnd pick who had spent an extra two years at college. But the opportunity to land an FP quality player while they are still under contract as a prospect made the decision easy. We like Parise and Stastny a great deal, but in our eyes Malkin will be a future cornerstone of the Severed Heads franchise. Worth noting that the fact Malkin is an FP talent was never a question for the Bladerunners, as they knew they were giving up a huge player to us.

- Did the Bladerunners get enough for their asset?

Its hard for me to say without appearing to be disingenuous. The facts are that they got back an elite (if not THE elite) goaltender, a #1 centreman, our teams best all-round defenseman, a ppg RW and two above average prospects. If that isn't fair value for a FP player or elite prospect trade, I don't know what is. The problem as the Highlanders describe it is that this is the kind of deal that you could feel sick about for a decade (ask the Highlanders GM - he knows this feeling well).

- If you were in the Bladerunners shoes was that the deal you would have made?

What is interesting to me is that so much of the value in the trade was in Kirprusoff, when Kipper isn't even a sure thing to dress for him. For sure their GM made a calculation about not just what players he needed for his own team, but what players he needed to keep his opponents from acquiring for themselves. I think it also leaves the Bladerunners open to an FP deal that sends Luongo on for help elsewhere allowing Kiprusoff to be the Man in net. If so, he's got a deeper perspective than I probably gave him credit for.

- Is Malkin the prototype Severed Heads FP?

Big, fast, young, unbelievably talented, 'Fear My Wingspan', above a ppg as a rookie, and he wears the black and gold. So, yes, without a doubt he's got what it takes to be our FP moving forward. Once upon a time the franchise built itself around guys like Rick Tocchet, Tim Kerr and Cam Neely. Power wingers who could fight as well as score goals. The Lemieux's etc. were seen as the necessary evil of needing to add skill players to my favourites in order compete. Looking back now though, that phase of the Severed Heads didn't last very long. With the advent of FPs we moved towards a different franchise model, and so far that is one that Malkin fits comfortably into.

- Can you describe that model?

Yes, but then I would have to kill you.

Malkin traded to Severed Heads

Heads GM says; FEAR. MY. WINGSPAN.