Eurolanche

Interview with Peter Stastny

Here is the first part of the interview where he talks about his two sons Paul and Yan. At the start of the conference, Peter talked about his memories on the city of Poprad where he played in the open-arena in the past. “I like to go here every time. From the PW to juniors, we played here hard games against the local prospects. I will never forget on games played in the open-arena.”

“Yan played in CSKA Moscow last year and I was looking forward to see him here in Poprad. I would not have to travel to Moscow. But everything has changed. Thanks our decision he left KHL and he plays in Germany for Norimberg now,” said Peter about his unfilled dream.

Peter Stastny on the conference

Trade deadline is coming and Paul Stastny is according to rumors the hot candidate for the trade again. What do you think about it?

I know about it. It is normal. There are teams which are not worth of playoffs and teams which have to get new and strong players – they give offers to others. Paul´s season is not one of the good or the best. Sum up, it is not bad season for him. He is on the second place in the team stats. Overall, the whole team does not play good, it is a long-time factor. I do not want to go to personal issues, because I made into newspapers´ titles one year ago when I talked about the trade of Stewart and Shattenkirk to St. Louis for Johnson and …. McClement (ironic laughing). Paul does not have no-trade clause, he did not ask for it. He is on the market like any other players. But I think it is media plays, because it makes people exciting, fans are interest in that. Finally some rumors turn to be true, but they are kinds about which fans do not talk too much. I do not think Paul will be traded, but I could not exclude it. Probability is small. This is hockey world. If they traded Gretzky, everybody could be too.

Why Yan Stastny left KHL and CSKA Moscow?

Yan suffered serious injury during the practice in the summer. He was running and then cut tears in the foot. This kind if injuries require treatment from 4 to 12 months. Fortunately, Yan was out only for 4 months. If player suffered injury during the practice, it is kind of sport injury and everywhere in the world teams respect contracts. He suffered it in June, so he would miss maybe only the first week of regular season. The behavior of his team was catastrophe. I am talking mainly about general manager Nemcinov. The president of that team is my good friend, but I did not load him about it. We made a decision and he left. Yan is still young player. He had very hard 5 years in the NHL. He played god there, but was injured, did not have lucky and finally was traded by three teams; he also played in the AHL. He needed stability and play. That´s the reason why he went to Germany – he wanted to play. He did not want to be manipulated by somebody. As we can see now, our decision was right. He plays fantastic in Germany now. I am exciting because the joy have come back to his play. The father is very happy and there is a chance he will play with his brother Paul on the World Championship 2012 for the USA if Colorado would not make playoffs. Yan played good on the tournament last year. He filled his duties in the team. He is a veteran in the young team of the USA. He knows he has not chance to play in the first two lines, but he filled his duties in the 3rd or 4th line.

From Slovak original by Rudolf Šerý