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An Interview With Kari Barkov
#1

Gone are the day's of the Dragons having a team full of super-stars, players like Kain Webb, Christopher Klose, Ryan Jesster, Cam Wilson, Trevor Smith, Aidan Richan etc to rely on, the team now relies on a young yet solid defence a core of Latvians and a star goalie to get by.

The Dragons currently have three players over 700 TPE, a forward in Kari Barkov, a defender in Logan Valentine and a goalie in Mike Verminski, the three will be relied on heavily if the Dragons hope to improve on last seasons 3rd place finish.

Many people expected the Dragons to fall off the map last season after they lost Kain Webb to retirement and Chris McZherl in a trade with Seattle, along with having almost half their team in regression and they were expected to be a lottery team, however they were able to prove doubters wrong, the Dragons iced 5 rookies in the regular season and 7 in the play-offs, and finished the year in third place, they finished 3 points behind the Renegades for second place and only 1 point ahead of the Blizzard who finished in 4th, the Dragons would go on to play both these teams.

Interview What was last season like?

Barkov- Well, going in I had no idea how we were going to do or finish, it's obviously risky to have so many rookies playing at the same time but because we got to do re-distribution right before the season we were able to re-make our builds to builds that would help us remain competitive and that helped us make the play-offs, obviously we were disappointed with the finish but I think at the end of the day we had a great season.

Interview How disappointing was it to lose to the Blizzard again?

Barkov- Very disappointing, I really thought we were going to go all the way last season after the win against the Renegades, it was too bad we couldn't pull through because it was a very close series.

Interview How important was Mike Verminski to the Dragons last season?

Barkov: He was our star, he played unbelievable and got us into the play-offs and eventually into the second round, without him I don't think we would of made it close to the play-offs, the biggest thing was that he put up the stats he did with 3 rookies on his defence and 4 in the play-offs, he had 4 players on his defence with under 300 TPE all season and just put up unbelievable numbers.

Interview How much did Kain Webb mean to your career?

Barkov: Man he meant everything, he was our leader for so many seasons and such an awesome LR presence, he was just everything you want in a teammate, if I can retire being half the player/GM Webb was then I will be extremely happy with my career, without Webb I probably wouldn't be in the SHL right now so I can't thank him enough.

Interview You're already 5 seasons into your SHL career, and you only have 4 seasons left until regression, how weird is that?

Barkov: Very weird, it seems like such a short time ago that I was playing my send down season with Chicago and getting pumped for my first year in the SHL, I still have great memories of my first season with the Dragons, memories I won't soon forget. Being 4 years from regression just freaks me out, I still feel like a rookie and I don't plan on retiring anytime soon, im hoping to play a few years after regression but we'll see how the Dragons and my player are doing at that point.

Interview What are your expectations for next season?

Barkov- Well a cup would be nice, I think we have a real good shot at it this season, we have been to three of the last four WCF and all three we have gone up against the Blizzard, two have gone to 7 games and this past season we went to 6 games, it sucks because I think if we came out on top on all of those series we'd have at least 3 cups by now, but yes, playing Edmonton in the WC finals almost seems like a tradition now.

Interview What was the biggest move you made in the off-season in your opinion?

Barkov: This is a hard question, if you're asking who the best player we brought in is then I would definitely say Logan Valentine, a true number 1 defender has been what we have been missing the last few years in my opinion and adding one is huge. In terms of trades obviously the biggest one we made was the Erik Lehner trade, it was an extremely hard trade for me to make as Erik was the first player I ever brought to the Dragons, before I was even CO-GM I got to do my first draft back in season 12 and I was extremely nervous, but to this day I believe I made the right choice as he has helped me a ton since becoming GM, i'll miss him, the LR will miss him and he won't be forgotten here in Calgary.

Interview Why did you make the Lehner trade?

Barkov: Well I knew Lehner wanted a change of scenery, he wanted to test free agency at the end of his contract and I was ok with that, he never requested a trade but we both felt that a trade might help bring his interest in the league back up, which was important to me. Ultimately I wouldn't of traded him unless I felt the trade benefitted the Dragons in the long run, and I felt this one did. Getting back Blackfyre was huge for us, we almost drafted him last season and we think he has a ton of potential, the first was also very important to us because we aren't quite out of this retool just yet.

Interview Talk about the Court trade.

Barkov: Court was someone that I wanted to bring to the Dragons before, obviously Jesster has a ton of history in Calgary and I really thought that not having him active was hurting the league, I've told Jesster that even if he only pops in here and there i'll be happy, I could of gotten permission to talk to him prior to the trade but I really saw no point, I knew if I could make contact with him we could get him extended and I imagine if we can to a contract prior to the trade the price may have gone up, so even if he's only semi-active I am still extremely happy with this trade, it was a low risk high reward move and we're hoping it pay's off for the both of us.

Interview You didn't draft any Latvians last draft, is there a reason for this?

Barkov: No, no reason at all. Listen, it's not like the last few seasons we've been taking reaches on players just because they're Latvian, in all of our drafts the Latvians we took were projected to go around where we took them, some were even projected to go higher and we got lucky that they fell to us.. It all comes down to who we view as the best player available, if there are two players that are projected to go around the same in the draft and one happens to be Latvian and the other is not, of course we're going to take the Latvian, why wouldn't we? We have a great system going with the Latvians here where they all do their best to keep each-other active.

Interview You have a pretty good relationship with the Latvians, talk about this. Who was the first Latvian you met?

Barkov: Well, Prikulis was the first Latvian I technically met, Hallsy and I drafted him in my first and only season as a GM in the SMJHL, he wasn't the most talkative but he did update, we didn't talk all that much back when I was GM but I've gotten to know him better over the past few months. Out of all the Latvians I probably know Kriss the best, we talk a lot and he's my go to Latvian if I need to get a message something out to the other Latvians on the Dragons,

Interview What made you want to bring Latvians to Calgary?

Barkov: At the time the Dragons were getting older and the team needed some youth injected into it, we had two second rounds pick that season, leading up to the draft I had a conversation with almost every Latvian available in that draft, I also had conversations with JNH who had a lot of the available Latvians on his team in Montreal, he thought the best chance at keeping them active was to have as many of them on the Dragons as possible, I agreed and right before the draft McZ and I decided the main three that we wanted, prior to the beginning of the second round we made a deal to trade for an early second round pick, we traded Antero Salmelainen to the Panthers to get the pick to select Krists Zommers, we were pleased to be able to bring him to the team but we knew we needed more then just him, we were shocked to be able to come out with all three, especially Kriss who we thought would be long gone by the time we got to our pick.

Interview How excited were you when you found out that the Latvians were finally getting an IHF team?

Barkov: Really excited, I like to think I had a small part in helping them get here but really this was all them, they have recruited out if their minds the last few seasons and I knew this day was going to come eventually, I think with getting a national team we could see some former semi-active Latvians come back to activity, guys like Mattiss Kokins are already returning and being active so that's awesome!

Interview Why was Matej Stransky the right player for the Dragons to draft?

Barkov: Matej Stransky is the right player for the Dragons because in my opinion there was no one better than him in this past draft, he was everything we wanted in a player and we had him number 1 on our draft rankings, when I found out he would likely slip to three I was shocked, This pick was one we HAD to get right because this will hopefully be our only pick during the re-tool, we had no room for error at this pick and I have 100 % confidence that we got this pick right, he's going to be a huge part of the future in Calgary.

Interview Why move the 10th overall pick?

Barkov: That was a hard trade to make, there was a player we wanted pretty bad at 10 but we couldn't pass up this offer, I was hoping to try and trade back into the second round and pick up the other player we wanted but nothing ever came of that, with two first round picks this up-coming season I believe we can fill whatever holes still need to be filled in this next draft, if not we can move those picks and acquire depth that way. Manhattan should be a lottery team so the 2nd rounder will almost be a first rounder, and even though S20 is quite a far way away you never know what can happen between now and then, players can request trades, leave through free agency, go inactive, it's always good to have an extra first lying around and the facts are their is a good chance that Manhattan's pick will be a higher pick then ours was.. We also got Erik Nilsson who has since come back and been active for us with the third rounder we got, so I think we both made out pretty well. Manhattan got Mars who was a steal at 10 and we got the futures we wanted and needed.

Interview Who will be your captain next season?

Barkov- Vlady Smirnov will be our captain for the second year in a row, I don't know what more you want in a captain but he gives us everything, a solid presence on defence, a big shot from the point, a great two way game and most important he's a great locker room guy.

Interview Thanks for doing this Kari!

Barkov- No problem.

2099 words

First article in like 5 seasons. :lol:

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"“HA HA! THIS GAME WILL NEVER END! I POSSESS THE SOUL OF EVERY GOALIE ON TEAM B!! CREW 4 LIFE!! SIGN WITH EDMONTON FOR THE CUP!!!” cackled Belial as he placed a Fedora on his head."
SMJHL Commisioner S17-S26
Calgary Dragons GM S14-S23
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#2

<3
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#3

:( You will bounce back, Trust.

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Credit to Wasty
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Credit to Sulovilen


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#4

Ilike

Bounce back and win another whatever award for comeback is called Wink

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Berserkers     -       syndicate      -     Berserkers
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#5

Thanks guys! :wub:

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[Image: 37742_s.gif]
[Image: jov7Yk9.png]

"“HA HA! THIS GAME WILL NEVER END! I POSSESS THE SOUL OF EVERY GOALIE ON TEAM B!! CREW 4 LIFE!! SIGN WITH EDMONTON FOR THE CUP!!!” cackled Belial as he placed a Fedora on his head."
SMJHL Commisioner S17-S26
Calgary Dragons GM S14-S23
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#6

I miss you guys. Go Dragons!

As far as I see it you are doing much better job as a GM.

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#7

Quote:Originally posted by spidey@Feb 20 2014, 09:42 PM
I miss you&nbsp; guys.&nbsp; Go Dragons!

As far as I see it you are doing much better job as a GM.

I miss you too, buddy.
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#8

Nice interview man!Wink
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#9

Ilike
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#10

Quote:Originally posted by spidey@Feb 20 2014, 08:42 PM
I miss you  guys.  Go Dragons!

As far as I see it you are doing much better job as a GM.

I don't know Tongue .. I look it at this team and to me it looks like you and I built the first half and McZ/Lehner and I build the second half, we all had a hand in this team!

[Image: 57879_s.gif]
[Image: 37742_s.gif]
[Image: jov7Yk9.png]

"“HA HA! THIS GAME WILL NEVER END! I POSSESS THE SOUL OF EVERY GOALIE ON TEAM B!! CREW 4 LIFE!! SIGN WITH EDMONTON FOR THE CUP!!!” cackled Belial as he placed a Fedora on his head."
SMJHL Commisioner S17-S26
Calgary Dragons GM S14-S23
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#11

good luck Ofer Smile

Chris McZehrl III - Anchorage Armada
[Image: McZehrlIII.jpg?ex=667c5d3b&is=667b0bbb&h...3f94d487d&]

Challenge Cup Wins:
S18 - Riot Seattle Riot (with Chris McZehrl)*
S23 - Wolfpack New England Wolfpack (with Chris McZehrl)*
S27 - Dragons Calgary Dragons (with VLAD McZehrl)**
S34 - Rage Manhattan Rage (with VLAD McZehrl)
S37 - Jets Winnipeg Jets (with VLAD McZehrl)
S46 - Stampede Buffalo Stampede (with GOD McZehrl)*

*first ever Challenge Cup of Franchise History
**first ever Challenge Cup win after 0-3 in Finals Series

Four Star Cup Wins:
S24 - Whalers Vancouver Whalers (with VLAD McZehrl)
S39 - Scarecrows St. Louis Scarecrows (with GOD McZehrl)

SHL Hall of Fame Members:
S24 - Chris McZehrl Platoon Panthers Dragons Riot Wolfpack *
(GP: 764 | G: 322 | A: 461 | P: 783 | +/-: +109)
S40 - VLAD McZehrl Dragons Riot Rage Stampede Jets Wolfpack *
(GP: 653 | G: 333 | A: 361 | P: 694 | +/-: +141)

*1st Ballot Hall of Famer

small note: GOD McZehrl played at first as Defender and later as Forward!
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#12

You'll get a cup in Calgary, this team has too much of a good core not to.
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