Allen Panzeri from The Ottawa Citizen provides further perspective in his article today:
Heatley may have to compromise
Winger's wish list could prove moot given price tag
Allen Panzeri, The Citizen, June 18, 2009
While the teams on Dany Heatley's preferred list have not yet leaked out, the Vancouver Canucks, Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers -- all close to his family home in Calgary and his summer home in Kelowna -- are most prominently being mentioned among NHL agents and general managers.
However, Heatley may find the path to his dream team blocked by the length and size of his contract, which general managers are telling agents is "untradeable" to all but three or four teams. That could force the Heatley camp into three unpalatable choices: accept a trade to a team not on the preferred list, sit out and not get paid or return to Ottawa.
This talk on the street reinforces how difficult it will be for Senators general manager Bryan Murray to deal Heatley, who has five years left on his contract, with a cap hit of $7.5 million U.S. a year.
"The term and money of his contract are difficult for a lot of teams to deal with," one prominent U.S.-based agent said Thursday. "I've talked to a lot of (general managers) over the last few days and they say that he is untradeable except to maybe three or four teams, and those are teams that are not desirable."
A big part of Murray's problem, said another agent, is that Heatley's "demand for a trade has really limited the ability of his (general manager) to make a trade.
"There's a difference between asking for a trade and demanding a trade -- a difference between saying, 'Look, I don't want to hurt the team and I want to help you get back equal value for me.'"
Even as agents do work for their own players at this critical time of the year, less than two weeks before the start of the free-agent market on July 1, they find themselves talking about Heatley.
To those on the outside, coach Cory Clouston, said to be main reason for Heatley's request to traded, appeared to be doing all the right things. He was getting results and finally holding the players accountable, something that previous coaches John Paddock and Craig Hartsburg didn't do.
"Did he not like it that Clouston was making them all accountable?" asked one agent.
Where Heatley lands depends on a number of factors, hardly any of them in his control.
While the Flames would have trouble fitting Heatley's contract under the salary cap without dumping some salary, which it would undoubtedly do in a swap, the Oilers and the Canucks remain as possibilities.
"Edmonton could probably pull it off," said one agent, "but would they be willing to part with some of their good, young assets for Dany?
"In Vancouver, if the Canucks don't re-sign the Sedins (Daniel and Henrik), which is looking less likely, and if they don't re-sign (Mattias) Ohlund, they would have the cap room.
"But would they have the assets to go back the other way?"
There's some thought, though, that if the Canucks don't re-sign the Sedins, they'll go after someone else, such as Martin Havlat, Marian Hossa or Marian Gaborik and structure a deal that is more agreeable than Heatley's.
Murray is watching the clock, too, because of the $4- million signing bonus that is due to Heatley on July 1.
What that will do is make Heatley's price tag higher after July 1, said one agent. If Murray has to pay the bonus, he'll be looking for more in return to compensate.
Under the collective bargaining agreement, teams can't trade cash, so Murray would be looking for an asset as compensation.
"Whatever Bryan asks for on June 30 is going to dramatically increase on July 2," said one agent.
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