When is Heatley done as a Senator?

Cap'n Clutch wrote:I'm certainly not suggesting we settle. All I've been trying to say is until the high calibre players are signed there won't be a significant offer made for Heatley IMO. If I was a GM plan A would be wait to see if Hossa, Havlat or Gaborik hit the UFA market, try to sign one of them, and barring that look at a trade for Heatley.

We shall see.

I definitely hope I'm wrong and we get a great return in time to do some Free agent spending though.

Cap'n Clutch wrote:I definitely hope I'm wrong and we get a great return in time to do some Free agent spending though.

I personally don't see any names that are must haves out there. I like Knuble and he's probably the closest thing to a must have out there for the Senators specific needs.

All I know is that the Heatley situation is could potentially throw a year-long wrench into our roster this year if it's not settled for noon tomorrow. If Heatley's on the books at 12:01pm on July 1st, then we miss out on making any significant FA moves and will be really uncertain as an organization about what we need and where we stand in relation to the cap. Teams know this, and so does BM. That doesn't put us in a great spot.

Still, by the same token, teams also must know that if we pay half of Heatley's salary for the year AND miss out on the FA period and so the chance to fill in our roster, then we're going to expect a return that will satisfy our team needs *for the year* and beyond. That means a trade for Heatley will be more heavily weighted towards getting a return that includes significant roster players (as opposed to youth and cap savings, which is what I imagine BM's been looking for so far).

All that said, it's definitely not time to start think about "settling for less". I'll buy season tickets to cheer on Dany Heatley in a Sens uniform before I settle for anything less than the kind of haul Pronger just brought in for ANA. I trust BM feels precisely the same way.

rooneypoo wrote:All I know is that the Heatley situation is could potentially throw a year-long wrench into our roster this year if it's not settled for noon tomorrow. If Heatley's on the books at 12:01pm on July 1st, then we miss out on making any significant FA moves and will be really uncertain as an organization about what we need and where we stand in relation to the cap. Teams know this, and so does BM. That doesn't put us in a great spot.

Still, by the same token, teams also must know that if we pay half of Heatley's salary for the year AND miss out on the FA period and so the chance to fill in our roster, then we're going to expect a return that will satisfy our team needs *for the year* and beyond. That means a trade for Heatley will be more heavily weighted towards getting a return that includes significant roster players (as opposed to youth and cap savings, which is what I imagine BM's been looking for so far).

All that said, it's definitely not time to start think about "settling for less". I'll buy season tickets to cheer on Dany Heatley in a Sens uniform before I settle for anything less than the kind of haul Pronger just brought in for ANA. I trust BM feels precisely the same way.

And Murray knows that some team is going to miss out on the big name free agents and is going to be up against the wall to find a big name