Oh Dany....Boy

The long awaited silence of Dany Heatley was broken today, with the Senators winger finally talking out about why he wanted a trade from Ottawa, why he didn't want to go to Edmonton, and what's next for him if nothing can get done.

However, when all was said and done, I don't know if there could have been a bigger letdown. Fact of the matter is that there are many questions left unanswered and new ones sprouting up, like those from the folks at Stay Classy.

A couple things stuck out to me when all was said and done from the phoner:

1. Heatley said that he wanted options when it came to where he wanted to go. Fact of the matter is this, when you're already rostered on a team and stuck with that team in contract form, you aren't going to get many options because you're not a free market asset. Teams cannot negociate their own terms with Heatley, but they have to work with what he's already signed to. In a salary cap world, this can't magically happen because you have to work within the perimeters of the cap and most teams now can't make the work. Plus, the teams have to give up some players in return, which many teams would want to do because they most likely would have to sell the farm, so to speak, when it comes to getting Heatley. Would it be worth it?? Maybe, maybe not-- depends on the system he's thrown into.

2. Which leads me to this point, Heatley was talking about his diminished role on the Senators, which as pointed out by the SC.net guys, he's still getting 20 minutes a game on average. Does he want to be like Bugs Bunny and play every position at the same time?? He's a big time player and will probably be put into positions where he'll be able to score and be a game-changer. However, the role of his probably diminished due to the fact the team was out of it and the team as a whole would have wanted to look at the future of the team. Just to see where they sit in terms of the who's coming up and what option there is out there if injuries happen. Plus, in case they need to trade off some guys, who would be expendable and what position they would need more depth in.

3. The questions about Edmonton were avoided like the plague. He said it wasn't about city or the team, it was lack of options. Listen, Dany if you're going to be the enemy, be the heel and totally destroy the city and how insanely cold it can get and why you wouldn't want to inhale all that cold hair, especially with your exposed nerve-endings due to your lack of tooth. Like seriously, Heatley said a lot about not choosing Edmonton by saying nothing at all. Like good buddy Erin Nicks said, I feel kinda bad for Edmonton.....but living in Calgary now, I don't feel THAT bad.

4. Stacey McAlpine is a bit of an ass. And I guess that's what he's supposed to do. I mean, not only did he cut off Don Brennan's question about relinquishing the alternate captaincy, but he tried to cut off the phoner early, only for Heatley to say he'd be able to take more questions. Honestly, great play by both. McAlpine seemingly gets the heat for trying to end it, while Heatley looks like an open guy by taking more questions and looking as if he has nothing to hide. Doubt it'll appear that way, but I think it was a decent ploy.

Well, that's that for now, I assume. Now that his silence is broken, there's nothing left here...right?? No, it's never over with this, let's be honest. Odds are that this won't be enough and it'll have people pining for more and hounding Heatley to get more in-depth answers. How he'll be when it comes time for training camp and he's still a Senator will be something that could make for great reality television. However, until he's retired and writes a book about it, we'll never get the true story at all. Kind of sad thinking about it like that, but it is what it is.