Does Minnesota intrigue you? "It's one of those teams you hate to play against, that's for sure. They have good goaltending over there, they have good No. 1 center over there with Mikko. It's sold out every game, you know? You want to play places like that where there's a hockey state in Minnesota." What do you most want at this stage in this career? "It's kind of tough because you don't know who's going to be out there. You don't want to make too many plans ahead. It's not like I'd be like, 'You know what, I don't want to go to that place.' I don't think there's a place in the league you don't want to go." Do you think because of the year you had and because frankly some people may think you're a risk that you may have to sign a short-term deal to get your career back on track? "Well, I'm open for anything, you know? I just got to see what's out there. You never know what's out there to be honest. But for me, I don't have a problem to sign short-term. I think I'm in a different position than a lot of the other free agents. I lot of the guys are ready to cash in. They want to get a long-term deal. Who wouldn't want that? I think every player would love to have a 10-year deal in their pocket. But for me the biggest thing is to go to the place where I can be myself, where I can enjoy hockey. That's the biggest thing. You want to go to the place where you have a chance to win, too. You want to be in the playoffs. You want to be a contender. You don't want to go places where they're just hoping to get in. You don't get any younger. I'm 31. I still think I can play six, seven years at this level. I'm in better shape now than I was five years ago, four years ago." Do you think you've gotten a bad rap? I mean, I am asked 20 times a season, 'You know Olli. What kind of guy is he? Can you win with him?'" "Yeah, you know what, some of the reporters, they came up, and you guys have a lot of sources, and people give bad information that's not necessarily true. Any place I've been going, all I have to say is just ask my teammates who I played with. They can give the feedback what kind of guy I am. Obviously if there's 25 guys on the team, there could be one or two guys who say, 'You know what, he's the biggest [jerk].' But if 99 percent of the guys you played with like you, I think that's OK, you know? I think it's pretty obvious what a couple media people try to do. It's pretty much coming out of those few people's mouth. I don't know if you read anything last year when you were up in Calgary with Minnesota, there was one reporter who was saying, 'Put all the blame on Olli.' He wrote a story saying I'm a bad guy and all that stuff. The whole media and everybody picks up that story. Then day after when Iginla and all my ex-teammates are defending me, that story is only in one paper. Nobody picks up that story nationwide. Usually stuff like that doesn't sell. People can say what kind of bad guy you are and all of that stuff, but it's hurtful. It's definitely been tough being traded few times, but I think it comes with the salary, comes with the price tag, you know?" So you believe you can rebound? "Last couple years I've been getting 50 points. Two years ago, got 29 goals, and everybody was saying it was my worst year I ever had. Last year I scored 15 goals, but people don't remember, if you look around the league, a lot of guys who score 40 points, it's an unbelievable year for them. But my standards last two years haven't been as good as I can be. I can definitely increase that. I always say if you make $5-plus million in this league, you better be a point-per-game guy, 35-plus goals. And I was doing that a few years ago. There's no reason why I can' t be that again. I think everybody's going to have a bad year once in awhile, and that was my worst year in 8, 9 years last season. But I already put that behind. As soon as the season was over, you analyze what you did good and what you can improve on, and you go into the summer with a good feeling. There's no time to feel sorry for yourself. You've got to look ahead and try to stay positive. You've got to bounce back and prove it to everyone again. You know more than anyone. All my whole career's been like that. I always remember after first four years, I was almost out of the league. I was 22 and people were saying, 'he can't play in this league.' Then I started scoring 30 goals and people were like, 'it's a one-year thing, do it again, do it again, do it again.' I did that five, six years and then was the first time I got my four-year deal. But I went like three, four years there with one-year deals. I always have to prove it. So I think I'm at a point in my career where I still want to prove it and definitely be that bounceback guy next year, and be back in that top-20 scoring in the league. There's no doubt in my mind that I can do it." Looking forward to tomorrow? "I'm interested to see what's out there. Like I said, I'm in a different position than a lot of the other free agents. I signed my big deal four years ago, you know? Obviously I'd love to get a deal like that again, but you have to realize it's probably not going to happen. So you have to look for whatever is the best fit. That's the biggest thing as a play. You want to have fun, you want to enjoy going to the rink and you want to be part of something where you have a chance to win."
