Heatley Gone From Ottawa, Finally

After months and months of bickering, bitterness, and speculation, the Dany Heatley saga is finally over, as the left winger was traded from the Ottawa Senators to the San Jose Sharks, a team said to be the destination for Heatley for the longest time. In return, the Senators get right winger Jonathan Cheechoo, left winger Milan Michalek, and a second round pick. The Sharks also obtain a 5th rounder.

Citing unhappiness in his role with the team, something disputed by everyone within ear shot, Heatley had asked GM Bryan Murray for a trade in May, for which the news got out and started to spread like wildfire after the playoffs had ended. It was hard to move Heatley, as he had a no-movement clause in his contract. A clause that had twice nixed a deal the Senators had with the Edmonton Oilers.

For the Senators, they get two solid forward, but two that can be very streaky at time. Cheechoo has the ability to be a big points guy, but needs the right chemistry to do so. Especially considering how flooded the right side is for the Sens, with Alex Kovalev and Daniel Alfredsson ahead of the pecking order, he'll have to adjust his game to more of a shut-down role if called upon. With Michalek, he's a solid winger on the left side with three straight 20+ goal seasons and a solid plus/minus rating of +47 in that time, as well. He'll probably be up for the top slot on the left side, which could see a bigger output in his production.

As for the Sharks-- they better hope that Heatley doesn't add to their playoff heartache they've been accustom to. However, Heatley does add another scoring option for an offensively sound line-up. With Joe Thornton as his center, you can believe he'll be somewhat revitalized and get plenty of chance to get back to his 50-goal form from a few seasons ago. Plus, odds are he may get the same amount of ice time he's looking for, though the Sharks are somewhat deep in all positions, so you wonder if this will pose a problem at all should he slump and lose some ice time.

Whatever way you slice it or dice it, the fact is this drama is over. For all the speculation, hearsay, and everything but the kitchen sink; the deal is done and the final destination is where many people thought. Even with Bryan Murray and Doug Wilson denying, they knew that it would come down between them to get a deal done. Also, you have to wonder how seething Murray is and if we would need a rain-slicker to get through his rage. I mean, Murray lost out on valuable free agent time because of not getting a deal done sooner, he missed out on resigning someone like Mike Comrie, who could have given some spark between the second and third lines. I guess it's hindsight now, but Murray must be hoping ownership gives him a mulligan on this off-season in hopes of keeping his job on a possible disappointing season.

Now, Sens fans can move on with their lives for now and get ready for the new season. The only time they'll see Heatley is if the two teams meet in the Cup Finals, a match-up that doesn't seem likely if recent history has shown us anything.

How Much of a Risk is Buccigross Taking??

By now, many people know that ESPN's John Buccigross is putting his neck out on the line saying that Dany Heatley will be dealt soon and even after people have debunked this rumor, he is standing by. Greg Wyshynski has the basic premise of this story and Bucci's determination to stand by the story over at Puck Daddy.

While people are getting their kicks bashing this report, the thing with Buccigross is here is that if this is wrong, he may lose the trust from NHL fans due to it. Buccigross is probably one of the top hockey personalities and fans love him. Having dealt with him in the past on FOHS, he's a great guy-- funny, insightful, and never one to mince words. My fear is that if he's sticking to this story gung-ho and gets it wrong; some people may turn on him and he may lose creditability, like others have in reporting a story from "sources" that go nowhere. We all know who I'm alluding to, so I don't have to really go into it at nauseum.

And if Bucci's sources lead him wrong and they make an ass out of him, how could he personally recover from that?? Will he actually lose more than creditability because of it?? Not saying ESPN will can him or anything like that, but how can you trust a guy who is being led in the wrong direction from trusted sources, sources who are passing on confidential material, as well. It could be a while for people to take him seriously again if he claims to have a story or some kind of inside insight to one thing or another. It could make people turn on him and may make his appeal go downward. Albeit, I don't know how likely it is, but this is all worse-case scenario stuff right now, just to show the doomsday issue at hand.

Of course, if this does go down like he said it would-- then he can throw it in the face of the doubters he had out there. I would like that to be the best scenario because I like Bucci and I think he's good for hockey fans in the States. However, claiming something like this and having it blow up in your face, if that is the case in this situation, could be more damning than not reporting it at all and not following the lead. It begs the question is it better to run with a story that may not have legs and has been falsely reported before, or to keep it quiet and lose out on the scoop that actually had the right outcome to it??

The thing you have to hand to Buccigross in all of this is sticking by the story, even after people in the thick of the situation have crapped all over you about it. He's holding true by what he saw and not going to let anyone else try to sway him differently. If nothing else, he's going to be the captain going down with the ship if he's wrong. If he's correct-- he can basically run the hockey rumor gestapo because Bucci's got the hook-ups.

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.