(How reluctant are you to use some of your young talent as bargaining chips?)

"Oh, too early at this point. At some point you're going to. We'd gotten to that point in San Jose, where the nucleus is together, and now you can start really looking at deals."

(So not do anything until you're in a position where you're maybe a couple players away?)

"What I'm looking at too is a combination. OK, I want to win a Cup. I'm also looking at who the best teams are, and I'm looking at when they might take a little fall. Maybe (Niklas) Lidstrom gets a little old, finally, or maybe (Dallas' Sergei) Zubov ..."

(That's another 10 years for Lidstrom, isn't it?)

"The way he's going, it's unbelievable.

"But the other thing too, and I've said this. This is the hard part again, when you're building, that fans and people don't see. When you're building it's a two-pronged thing. You've got to build your reserve list as well as your team. And what I mean by that, and I don't like sometimes saying it because players aren't chattel. They're human beings. But if you look at your reserve list like a balance sheet, hockey people or anybody in sports looks and says, that's a strong reserve list. Where the outsider only looks at, that's a strong team.

"If you're going to try and be a contender, versus being just a playoff team, you have to have a strong reserve list. And part of that is, the Oakland A's are a great example of it every year. They don't have the money, not that we're not going to spend when the time is right ... Other general managers aren't stupid. There's no such thing as taking a guy in a deal. It's finding the right fit and having the cards to play.

"The whole thing is, 'Well, he could have got that or whatever.' Well, every general manager does his homework, looks at all 30 teams, finds his best deal and what fits for him. What you hope to have when the time is right, I've got more than the other guy that wants that guy.

"And this is the other thing I've always said: As much as it sounds cliché-ish, particularly when people are arguing with you that drafting is not as important as it used to be, and maybe as the leagues keep getting to where mercenaries keep filling every team there might be something to that. But when I look at drafting, the other mechanism is free agency. Well, I believe free agency is used to finish off your core or find a role. I think you go out and get 10 mercenaries, you're not gonna win.

"And everybody says, well, look at Detroit. They've been built through that, and you add through free agency. But the core and the identity of that team comes from the draft. So to me free agency is not the avenue to win a Cup, until you draft well.

"Secondly, trades. Well, unless you draft well, you've got nothing to trade. I'm sorry, but again, general managers aren't stupid. I get recommendations: 'Can we get this guy for a second-rounder?' Well, yeah, if the guy on the other side of the fence is an idiot. But they're not. Most deals ... we (traded in 2006 for) Jack Johnson. Philosophically, you can find deals that are different. Carolina wants two guys to play now. I'm in a situation where I can take a kid that's still in college. Maybe I get the better player, but it was very fair to them to get two guys who could play now, (Eric) Belanger and (Tim) Gleason. I got the guy, maybe, with more upside.

"Maybe it'll turn out that it doesn't look right. But trust me, when deals are done (they're not lopsided).

"Now I am, but I'm not as reluctant as I was a year ago, because I can see it. We're much stronger on our reserve list than we were a year ago. I've got extra picks again. I've got 11 picks in next year's draft already. So for the right guy I can now massage it a little bit. I'd be hard-pressed to think we're going to give up first-rounders or top guys. I don't see that yet. But the day could come."

(But it depends on what's available and is it worth that price.)

"And where's our team? If like I said ideally you like it, you see the nucleus there and say, 'ok, we've got the defense covered, the goalies covered, and we've got this guy, we'd really like to have him, but we can improve ourselves in another area ...'

"I'm not quite there yet. You never say never, and last year I'd say, no way, we gotta draft well. But I can see a little now, when I look at what I see coming. I've got a little more flexibility. But I'm not gonna make a deal just to make a deal.

"I guess what I'm saying, just to go back to my original premise, I can already feel I've got a few cards to play that I didn't have. I didn't have no cards. We had to go to the draft table and build assets.

"The other thing that tells me we're on the right track when people call me? They're starting to ask about my young players. That's one of your biggest indicators, that now people ask me, 'Would you move this guy, would you move that guy?' Two years ago nobody called and asked for that. They might want your pick and stuff. Now they want some of my prospects. And it's nice to say, 'Go away, but thanks for asking.'

(Has free agency become more of a fire drill?)

"Everybody says, 'How's this guy get $4.5 (million)? How's this guy get an eight-year deal at $8 million?' But nothing surprises me any more. The fact of the matter is, there's more teams than there are good players. I don't care whether you're doing widgets or building a hockey team. It all comes down to supply and demand. So guys who got the big deals--Brian Campbell, eight years, holy smoke. That's a lot. Well, they're hard to find. So grin and bear it."

(And again, if it comes down to the fact that you have a need ...)

"Exactly. And all it takes is two teams, and boom. (Ron) Hainsey going to Atlanta for $4.5 (million), holy smoke. They had no choice. There's nobody else available, and he's a decent player. Four-five? That's what the market says.

"Hey, what more evidence do you need that supply determines demand? If you look at players as loyal ... figure it out."

Still more to come ...