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.