Melnyk Wants His Money Back: report

From Sun Media today:

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Hockey/NHL/Ottawa/2009/11/02/11611386-sun.html

It’s payback time for Eugene Melnyk.

Sun Media has learned the Senators owner was so furious with being forced to shell out a $4-million bonus to Dany Heatley, who refused to accept a trade to the Edmonton Oilers on July 1, he has filed a grievance asking for his money back.

An NHL executive confirmed last night Melnyk filed the paperwork early in the summer, not long after Heatley wouldn’t lift his no-movement clause before the bonus was paid.

Sources say the grievance — which will be defended on Heatley’s behalf by the NHL Players Association — is pending and no hearing date has been set. Indications are it could take a while to be heard, especially with the frazzled state of the union and the departure of its executive director Ian Penny on Friday.

Indications are Melnyk isn’t convinced he can be successful, but after handing over a whopping $14 million to Heatley only 12 months into a seven-year contract extension, the Senators won’t fork over the cash without a fight.
“I don’t think Melnyk really expects to get his money back,” said a league executive. “I do think he wants to cause Heatley some hardship because he caused plenty of problems for the Senators in the summer.”

Sources say Melnyk contends in the paperwork filed at the NHL’s New York headquarters, that Heatley’s camp — including agents J.P. Barry and Stacey McAlpine — gave the Senators permission to speak with the Oilers and the two-time, 50-goal scorer should have accepted the deal to Edmonton.

It’s believed Melnyk not only claims the decision by Heatley to kill the deal cost him $4 million, it also hurt the club’s ability to sell season tickets because of the uncertainty in the Senators camp.

Heatley was dealt to the San Jose Sharks in September.

Barry couldn’t be reached for comment, but league executives believe Melnyk is patient enough to battle this matter to the finish.

“He doesn’t like to lose. He’s going to have to be patient here because this could take a while and there is some merit to his case,” said a league executive. “Something like this could take two years to be worked out. I’m not sure this will bother Heatley, though.”

Once the Edmonton deal died, Senators GM Bryan Murray found it difficult to put another trade together. The Senators decided they had to make a deal when Heatley showed up for training camp defiant and unwilling to bend on his demand.

The league executive said there’s a chance the Sharks could be forced to pay the bonus back to Melnyk if he wins his grievance. San Jose made an offer for Heatley at the NHL draft in June, but only wanted to complete the deal on July 2 — after the bonus had been paid.

“The issue for Melnyk is going to be the fact that Heatley had that ‘no movement’ clause. That allows him to veto a trade,” said the executive. “It’s going to be difficult for the Senators to argue that fact whether they like it or not.”

The move to San Jose hasn’t hurt Heatley. He has 17 points, including nine goals, in 17 games with the Sharks.

$4M is nothing to sneeze at, but I don't see him getting his money back. It's in the contract, and as far as i can tell, no rules were broken. They really do need to re-visit the rules with players that have a NTC that request a trade. The NTC should be nullified.

The league executive said there’s a chance the Sharks could be forced to pay the bonus back to Melnyk if he wins his grievance.

Exactly. Heatley still gets his money no matter what. I'd be shocked if Melnyk got one thin dime out of this anyway.

I don't pretend to understand the logistics of it all, but I get why Melnyk wants to get paid back. Whether he will or not remains to be seen.

Although I'm amused and would never put anything over Melnyk in terms of patiently waiting until he (possibly) wins this case, I think this was just to make sure Heatley realizes to the max what an arsehole he is.

I doubt Uncle Gene really cares about the money as much as he cares about making life miserable for the idiot that it Dany Dickhead.

Heatley's got everything on his side, unfortunately. No one held a gun to anyone's head when the contract was signed -- he was promised $4M June 30 or whatever date it was, and he was given a No-Trade Clause. What he did was above-board from a legal point of view.

The only thing that can come out of this is a change to how NTCs are handled in the future. Possibly a clause that says that, when a trade is requested in writing it nulls the NTC. Possibly some GMs will get wise and not hand these things out like Halloween treats. In the meantime, some lawyers will get richer arguing the case for both sides. Melnyk can't even force Heatley to spend his own money for his defense, since it sounds like the NHLPA will foot that bill.

SpezDispenser wrote:Although I'm amused and would never put anything over Melnyk in terms of patiently waiting until he (possibly) wins this case, I think this was just to make sure Heatley realizes to the max what an arsehole he is.

I doubt Uncle Gene really cares about the money as much as he cares about making life miserable for the idiot that it Dany Dickhead.

Gene is wasting his time. I'm pretty sure Heatley is a borderline sociopath.

SeawaySensFan wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:Although I'm amused and would never put anything over Melnyk in terms of patiently waiting until he (possibly) wins this case, I think this was just to make sure Heatley realizes to the max what an arsehole he is.

I doubt Uncle Gene really cares about the money as much as he cares about making life miserable for the idiot that it Dany Dickhead.

Gene is wasting his time. I'm pretty sure Heatley is a borderline sociopath.

Is there such a thing as a 'borderline sociopath'?

davetherave wrote:

SeawaySensFan wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:Although I'm amused and would never put anything over Melnyk in terms of patiently waiting until he (possibly) wins this case, I think this was just to make sure Heatley realizes to the max what an arsehole he is.

I doubt Uncle Gene really cares about the money as much as he cares about making life miserable for the idiot that it Dany Dickhead.

Gene is wasting his time. I'm pretty sure Heatley is a borderline sociopath.

Is there such a thing as a 'borderline sociopath'?

Good question.

There's borderline. There's sociopath. But is there a combo? Could be dangerous.

What I meant was not in a criminal sense. Just the elements of lack of remorse, narcissism, aversion to authority figures... Dung like that.

Flip this around and if Melnyk was Heatley's agent, you can BET he'd be saying that money should be paid out, it's in the contract, all conditions were met.

I can't imagine Gene actually expects anything... this seems to all be posturing for the next wave of CBA negotiations.

shabbs wrote:

davetherave wrote:

SeawaySensFan wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:Although I'm amused and would never put anything over Melnyk in terms of patiently waiting until he (possibly) wins this case, I think this was just to make sure Heatley realizes to the max what an arsehole he is.

I doubt Uncle Gene really cares about the money as much as he cares about making life miserable for the idiot that it Dany Dickhead.

Gene is wasting his time. I'm pretty sure Heatley is a borderline sociopath.

Is there such a thing as a 'borderline sociopath'?

Good question.

There's borderline. There's sociopath. But is there a combo? Could be dangerous.

Well, some people think the Denny's Grand Slam combo is dangerous too.

For different reasons, obviously.

But is Heatley any more dangerous than a Grand Slam breakfast?

Denny's Grand Slam pales in comparison to any of the "Big Breakfasts" at Broadway's Bar and Grill.

Mmmmmmmmmmmm.

davetherave wrote:

shabbs wrote:

davetherave wrote:

SeawaySensFan wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:Although I'm amused and would never put anything over Melnyk in terms of patiently waiting until he (possibly) wins this case, I think this was just to make sure Heatley realizes to the max what an arsehole he is.

I doubt Uncle Gene really cares about the money as much as he cares about making life miserable for the idiot that it Dany Dickhead.

Gene is wasting his time. I'm pretty sure Heatley is a borderline sociopath.

Is there such a thing as a 'borderline sociopath'?

Good question.

There's borderline. There's sociopath. But is there a combo? Could be dangerous.

Well, some people think the Denny's Grand Slam combo is dangerous too.

For different reasons, obviously.

But is Heatley any more dangerous than a Grand Slam breakfast?

Fortunately for us not all Sociopaths and Psychopaths are dangerous. In fact there are a few in the Navy Seals that score quite high on the tests they use to determine whether or not you are a Sociopath or Pychopath.

Now back to the more pressing question regarding the Denny's Grand Slam breakfast. I try to avoid the artery clogging specials like that but once in a while I gotta do it.