Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Interview with Malkin's Russian agent

Here is an interview from a few days back with one of Malkin's Russian agents, Gennadi Ushakov.

As always, here's what I took from it:
  • Ushakov didn't know Malkin was leaving, basically saying that people don't usually talk about when they're going to run. In fairness, Ushakov could get into trouble if here were to admit that he did know, or could have tried to stop Evgeni if he had been told.
  • Ushakov confirmed that Malkin had a Canadian visa with him when he went to Finland.
  • Ushakov will not make a dime off of Malkin coming to the NHL, so it's in Ushakov's best interest for Malkin to remain with Metallurg. This point is especially important in light of the one year contract signed by Malkin, either with or without representation. I'm not sure that it would have helped even if his Russian agents were there, because they only way they get paid is if Malkin remains in Russia. That doesn't seem like representing the best interest of your client to me...

No comments: