Murray speaks out about Heatley trade request

PKC wrote:I think what Murray is really doing is pandering to the casual fan. You guys tend to forget that us hardcore fans who know every name on the roster, in the farm system, their career totals, career highs, playoff numbers, social insurance numbers, first date, first kiss, etc...are more reasonably expecting/hoping to get prospects and picks.

Murray and the rest of management and marketing know that prospects and picks don't sell tickets or promote the brand. Bonafide NHL stars with impressive track records do the above.

I think he is setting realistic expectations for the casual fans which make up at least 80% of Scotiabank Place attendance. ie. Don't expect a superstar to be coming back.

That's my take on it.

It sounded like what he was saying was: people are going to take a wait and see approach, so in order to sell tickets, we'll have to get a couple of quality guys back here.

Which makes me a little diddling nervous. Trust you gut Murray, not the people buying tickets. Diddle them all to hell when we make the playoffs and they can't get tickets.

Havlat9 wrote:whatever the other reasons were that made him want out next to clouston wanting him to work a lil bit more to adapt to the new system that was winning the sens hockey games (obviously to much to ask for a guy who ur giving 7.5 mil with a NTC) it definately wasn't a lockerroom issue. I've heard that the rest of the sens players are extremely disappointed in the news from Heatley and really had no idea this was coming. Some have apparently gone as far as to try and contact their douchebag of a teammate and haven't got a response.

Something that might explain this is if he got into a fight with Alfie and/or Spezza behind closed doors and decided to pu$$y out. Just a theory though could be way off.

My opinion on that is that Spezza would be out the door before you could say Jack Rabbit. If it was anyone, I'd say Phillips, Fisher and Alfie got together to let him know that he wasn't playing well enough.

But...we'll find out one way or the other. Until Heatley himself talks, he'll be dogged about it for the rest of his career.

Why are you a quitter/loser? Come on...we're all waiting to hear.

http://senators.nhl.com/ext/090616_BM_scrum-05.mp3

Here's a link to the audio of Bryan Murray's press conference about Dany Heatley.

PKC wrote:

cas wrote:I'm 90% certain that a TON of this has to do with Heatley not wanting to play next to Spezza anymore. I'm telling you: I could see it when they were at the World's.

Then Diddle him, good riddance.

Let me make it clear that the following isn't the reason why I believe Heatley doesn't want to keep playing with Spezza. In fact I've believed that since the initial skid of 2007-08 after that blazing 16-3 start.

Anyways, if you look at the timing of these events, it kind of supports my theory: Murray throws his support behind Spezza. Heatley demands a trade.

I'm not saying its the whole issue and I'm sure there's an aspect of the relationship with Clouston that comes into play, but I've watched the dynamic between the two for so long and its been this gradual slide away from comfort and success to unease and failure.

I won't put a guarantee behind it or anything, but its something to think about.

Spezza cares about winning, Heatley cares about #s and $s. Simplest way I can see it.

I wouldnt go that far, all I have heard about Spezza is that he is all about his numbers as well. MAYBE that changes, but thus far in his career thats what he has been about as well. Just because Heatley is what he is, lets not make Spezza into something he isnt right now.

IMO Clouston, Alfie or whoever didn't like the way he handled the last game when he didn't want to leave the ice to get the 40th goal.

PKC wrote:I think what Murray is really doing is pandering to the casual fan. You guys tend to forget that us hardcore fans who know every name on the roster, in the farm system, their career totals, career highs, playoff numbers, social insurance numbers, first date, first kiss, etc...are more reasonably expecting/hoping to get prospects and picks.

Murray and the rest of management and marketing know that prospects and picks don't sell tickets or promote the brand. Bonafide NHL stars with impressive track records do the above.

I think he is setting realistic expectations for the casual fans which make up at least 80% of Scotiabank Place attendance. ie. Don't expect a superstar to be coming back.

That's my take on it.

Pretty much my take on it as well. He's essentially saying "Don't expect us to trade him for another 50 goal sniper." Nothing mote than that.

He's also letting some GMs know that, relax, even if you're not on Dany's white list just tell me what you've got gor me; perhaps we can still make a deal. I have this feeling that, if he is not traded by the time training camp starts, Dany will not report. So the Sens will be able to suspend him without pay to save his salary until a trade can be made. They'd still have to pay him the $4M up-front, so the return will have to be suitably sweetened.

Do you think we can hold our own for 20 games without Heatley in the lineup? I think we'd become a better team in the process. The number crunching I did a fwe days ago shows that with Leclaire/Elliot over Gerber/Auld, plus with Campoli/Bell her full time, we can realistically absorb the loss of Heatley's goals and still remain competitive.

So the ideal situation is a deal is made before draft day. If not, then we can wait as long as it takes. And, of course, if Heatley decides to report after all just so he can collect the other half of his salary, the Sens can make some cash on the side by selling "Heatley you suck!" T-Shirts, or setting up an impromptu driving range outside the SBP where you can tee off on some Jeatley bobbleheads. Wouldn't you pay $10 to get a picture of yourself swinging at one of those?

wprager wrote:

PKC wrote:I think what Murray is really doing is pandering to the casual fan. You guys tend to forget that us hardcore fans who know every name on the roster, in the farm system, their career totals, career highs, playoff numbers, social insurance numbers, first date, first kiss, etc...are more reasonably expecting/hoping to get prospects and picks.

Murray and the rest of management and marketing know that prospects and picks don't sell tickets or promote the brand. Bonafide NHL stars with impressive track records do the above.

I think he is setting realistic expectations for the casual fans which make up at least 80% of Scotiabank Place attendance. ie. Don't expect a superstar to be coming back.

That's my take on it.

Pretty much my take on it as well. He's essentially saying "Don't expect us to trade him for another 50 goal sniper." Nothing mote than that.

He's also letting some GMs know that, relax, even if you're not on Dany's white list just tell me what you've got gor me; perhaps we can still make a deal. I have this feeling that, if he is not traded by the time training camp starts, Dany will not report. So the Sens will be able to suspend him without pay to save his salary until a trade can be made. They'd still have to pay him the $4M up-front, so the return will have to be suitably sweetened.

Do you think we can hold our own for 20 games without Heatley in the lineup? I think we'd become a better team in the process. The number crunching I did a fwe days ago shows that with Leclaire/Elliot over Gerber/Auld, plus with Campoli/Bell her full time, we can realistically absorb the loss of Heatley's goals and still remain competitive.

So the ideal situation is a deal is made before draft day. If not, then we can wait as long as it takes. And, of course, if Heatley decides to report after all just so he can collect the other half of his salary, the Sens can make some cash on the side by selling "Heatley you suck!" T-Shirts, or setting up an impromptu driving range outside the SBP where you can tee off on some Heatley bobbleheads. Wouldn't you pay $10 to get a picture of yourself swinging at one of those?

Do we have to wait until he reports?

Has he been traded yet?

No?

Dammit.

C'mon!

For me the strangest part of the conference was when Murray said and I'm paraphrasing. He talked to Heatley and realized there was a problem but he thought they had agreed that the two (Clouston and Heatley) would meet and discuss the issues. Next thing Murray knew Heatley requested the trade and from the timings less than 24 hours later it was public. Murray also stated to his knowledge no meeting ever took place.

So if we take what Murray said at face value, Heatley has an issue with the coach, Murray recommends the coach and player talk. No talks take place, but the player still wants a trade.

There is something else driving Heatley out of Ottawa....The coach may be part of it, but it's not the only thing. If it was there would have been a meeting prior to the decision being made. The rumor, and it's just a rumor right now, is that Heatley's Agent is furious because he had no idea this was going to happen and is now stuck trying to clean it up.

Yeah... something is weird about all this. It's almost as if he joked/threatened about asking for a trade and Murray called his bluff saying "put it in writing" and then egos got in the way and now his Agent is trying to clean up the mess.

Something doesn't add up... but as long as Murray can get a deal that puts us in a good position for a while with picks and prospects... I'm happy with that.

shabbs wrote:Has he been traded yet?

No?

Dammit.

C'mon!

Are trades allowed to happen yet?

shabbs wrote:Has he been traded yet?

No?

Dammit.

C'mon!

How about now? Are we there yet?

Dawg's Wife wrote:For me the strangest part of the conference was when Murray said and I'm paraphrasing. He talked to Heatley and realized there was a problem but he thought they had agreed that the two (Clouston and Heatley) would meet and discuss the issues. Next thing Murray knew Heatley requested the trade and from the timings less than 24 hours later it was public. Murray also stated to his knowledge no meeting ever took place.

So if we take what Murray said at face value, Heatley has an issue with the coach, Murray recommends the coach and player talk. No talks take place, but the player still wants a trade.

There is something else driving Heatley out of Ottawa....The coach may be part of it, but it's not the only thing. If it was there would have been a meeting prior to the decision being made. The rumor, and it's just a rumor right now, is that Heatley's Agent is furious because he had no idea this was going to happen and is now stuck trying to clean it up.

If it was anyone but you, DW, I'd be checking for a tin-foil hat. Sounds a little far-fetched to me.

However, combine what you feel with what Heatley said about the old-timers' club running the town, and then someone earlier suggesting that, perhaps, Alfie and Phillips and Fisher took him aside and told him to shape up -- who knows. maybe there's something there after all.

The Guy With The Mustache wrote:

shabbs wrote:Has he been traded yet?

No?

Dammit.

C'mon!

Are trades allowed to happen yet?

Who's the guy who started this "no trades allowed in the NHL until 10 days after the Stanley Cup Final"?

I'm doubting it. I can only think of two times in the season for sure when players can't be traded -- 1) during the holiday roster freeze, when no player from any team can be traded; and 2) during the period from the trade deadline to the end of the player's team's season.

I just ran a word search on "trade" in the CBA. The above two ideas are discussed in passing. This issue that trades are restricted during the playoffs between teams who aren't competing, however, is not mentioned anywhere.

I've heard the rumour before, however, that the NHL really hates it when NHL clubs do anything significant during the playoffs because it takes attention away from the main event. That's an argument I get, but I don't think it's set down in positive terms in the CBA.

DW, you say there is a rumour that the agent is furious from being blindsided by this. Yet the Bryan Murray interview that DTR has posted on the "Who blinks first" thread states that it was the agent who leaked the story. Of course Heatley has more than one agent, so it could be internal strife.

What a diddling mess...