Eugene Melnyk speaks...
Heatley deal in 'no man's land': Melnyk
Allen Panzeri, The Ottawa Citizen, July 3, 2009
OTTAWA — Eugene Melnyk’s voice sounded pleasant, as it most often does.
But there was no hiding the anger behind his words.
The owner of the Ottawa Senators is still shaking his head in disbelief over disgruntled winger Dany Heatley’s refusal to waive his no-movement clause and accept a trade to the Edmonton Oilers.
He is clearly furious on many levels: from having to write a $4-million U.S. bonus cheque for Heatley, to the suggestions from agents that general manager Bryan Murray didn’t work hard enough to arrange options for Heatley, to Heatley’s gall in asking for a trade, yet refusing to accept one to the Oilers.
“I’ve never, ever seen something like this in my life,” Melnyk said during an interview on The Fan 590 in Toronto, “where somebody says, ‘I want to be traded,’ but … ‘No, I don’t want to be traded to them.’
“I’ve never seen anything like this in my life.”
The situation is now in what Melnyk called “no man’s land.”
Melnyk is particularly angry at whoever leaked Heatley’s trade request. He said he has a good idea who did it, but says all it did was make everyone’s life miserable, “including Dany’s.”
He’s equally irritated that Heatley’s agents, J.P. Barry and Stacey McAlpine, have suggested that Murray didn’t work hard enough to arrange other possible trades.
That’s ridiculous, said Melnyk, who himself stayed up until midnight on both Tuesday and Wednesday, waiting to see if the Heatley deal would get done.
“The only thing that really inflames you is the suggestion … that Bryan didn’t work hard enough to get a trade done,” said Melnyk.
“You know the show, Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? I mean, (Murray) did 29 phone-a-friend help lines. That’s the equivalent. Then multiple calls and multiple calls, and multiple calls, and what he came up with was a deal, finally at the end.”
The Heatley camp was silent on Friday.
When reached on his cellphone, McAlpine said he would call back momentarily, that he was on another call.
He never called back. Nor did he return messages.
Melnyk said the Oilers did all they could to convince Heatley that Edmonton, which wasn’t one of his preferred destinations, would be a good place for him to play hockey.
“How far can you go?” asked Melnyk. “You’ve got the president (Kevin Lowe) and the general manager (Steve Tambellini) flying out (to Kelowna, B.C.) in a private jet to see him.
“What’s wrong with Edmonton? The organization is putting itself out. You can’t have your cake and eat it, too.”
Melnyk said the bottom line right now is that Heatley remains an Ottawa Senator and the team expects him at training camp.
The longer the situation goes on, the more the leverage begins to shift to the Senators. If Heatley wants to make Canada’s Olympic team, he’ll have to be playing for a team in October. He has been told he’s not an automatic choice because of past service.
It was otherwise quiet on all other fronts Friday. There was no word from Murray and none from Tambellini, his counterpart in Edmonton.
Writing a $4-million cheque for Heatley wasn’t fun, Melnyk said, but he had no other choice.
The NHL has left open the door for the Senators to file a grievance, but so far that hasn’t been done.
“When I do a deal on a napkin or a handshake, or a 150-page document, it doesn’t matter,” Melnyk said.
“I stick by my word, I stick by my signature, I stick by my handshake, and you go ahead and do it, and you expect the other side to be there because you’ve done your side of the bargain.
“You just bite your tongue and you sign the cheque, and let it play out.”
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