Heatley's Return 'Doable', says Melnyk

From Ken Warren at The Ottawa Citizen today...

Heatley's return 'doable': Melnyk
Countless issues need to be resolved, says Sens' owner
Ken Warren, OttawaCitizen.com, July 10 2009

Alex Kovalev and Dany Heatley playing together with the Ottawa Senators?

It's possible, Senators owner Eugene Melnyk said Thursday.

"Yes, absolutely," Melnyk said, when asked about that possibility during an interview on CFRA. "We're not far off (above the salary cap). We've traded (Alex) Auld away and that saved us $1 million, and I think we're about $1.5 million over the salary cap of ($56.8 million). We're fine."

Melnyk cautioned, however, that countless issues would have to be ironed out before Heatley would be accepted back, owing to the fact that he requested a trade away from the club, apparently because of conflicts with coach Cory Clouston.

"There's a whole lot of work that would have to be done to have Dany come back. With the fans, with the players, with the dressing room.

"But would it be doable? I think so. Right now, as far as I'm concerned, and I've said it before, we kept our part of the bargain. We expect him to be at training camp, unless something happens otherwise."

Melnyk hinted that a trade could be close. He says general manager Bryan Murray is in daily talks with Heatley's agents and suggested the Edmonton Oilers are still interested in the two-time 50-goal scorer.

Last week, Heatley rejected a potential deal that would have sent him to Edmonton for Dustin Penner, Andrew Cogliano and Ladislav Smid.

Naturally, Melnyk put a positive spin on Monday's signing of Kovalev.

"We just sold our first Kovalev jersey (Wednesday)," he said. "We have literally had thousands of fans calling and hundreds of season tickets sold in the past couple of days."

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So...IF Dany returns, will the team forgive him? Will the fans forgive him?

Should the Sens bring Dany back, or move on?

...among other questions that may come to mind...

Looking forward to the comments from GM Hockey Members.

No brainer to answer this one.

Dany goes if they can find the right deal for both sides. If not then keep him here and wait until that deal materializes. With Kovalev here it allows Murray the luxury of waiting. The amount that they're over the cap is small enough that they can find ways to move out salary to be cap compliant for the season.

Let him face the music and let's move on. A Sens team with Heatley on it is scary to say the least.

Cap'n Clutch wrote:No brainer to answer this one.

Dany goes if they can find the right deal for both sides. If not then keep him here and wait until that deal materializes. With Kovalev here it allows Murray the luxury of waiting. The amount that they're over the cap is small enough that they can find ways to move out salary to be cap compliant for the season.

you summed it up very well, however, one of the vets must stand up to Heatley before he even enters the dressing room and say no BS around the young guys, not sure if Alfie will do it, but there is Phillips, Fisher, Neil, someone has to step up to that guy before he ruins any of our prospects.

Or as some like to say - Don't let him take up all the oxygen in the room.

Cap'n Clutch wrote:Or as some like to say - Don't let him take up all the oxygen in the room.

that works too, shove a sock in his mouth if he gets too unruly.

Just listened to the Melnyk call in on TGOR/Team 1200 radio.

He measured his words carefully, but the message was clear...he wants Heatley gone ASAP. "When we signed Alex (Kovalev) we got a player who can replace Dany," he said.

PS he was very excited about Kovalev as a Sen, saying, "I watched him last year and he killed us," adding he had no hesitation about the signing.

Sounds like he echoed his remarks from his CFRA interview yesterday. I was kind of hoping the Team would push him a little more with some follow up questions on what was said yesterday.

davetherave wrote:Just listened to the Melnyk call in on TGOR/Team 1200 radio.

He measured his words carefully, but the message was clear...he wants Heatley gone ASAP. "When we signed Alex (Kovalev) we got a player who can replace Dany," he said.

PS he was very excited about Kovalev as a Sen, saying, "I watched him last year and he killed us," adding he had no hesitation about the signing.

from what I read Melnyk was the reason why Kovalev is here, saw that Kovalev was available, asked why Murray hadn't talked to him, then told him to get on the phone.

Cap'n Clutch wrote:Sounds like he echoed his remarks from his CFRA interview yesterday. I was kind of hoping the Team would push him a little more with some follow up questions on what was said yesterday.

Those shills? lol

Sweaterman is the biggest company man on the air.

If that was all he was going to do why didn't they just replay the CFRA interview and go get breakfast? LOL.

Cap'n Clutch wrote:If that was all he was going to do why didn't they just replay the CFRA interview and go get breakfast? LOL.

Because these low-rent "personalities" like to play radio host whenever they get the chance.

SeawaySensFan wrote:

Cap'n Clutch wrote:If that was all he was going to do why didn't they just replay the CFRA interview and go get breakfast? LOL.

Because these low-rent "personalities" like to play radio host whenever they get the chance.

well when GM hockey gets to be big enough to have a radio station, I nominate SSF to be the radio personality as he will be a welcome change from those low rent personalities. :___:

SensFan71 wrote:

SeawaySensFan wrote:

Cap'n Clutch wrote:If that was all he was going to do why didn't they just replay the CFRA interview and go get breakfast? LOL.

Because these low-rent "personalities" like to play radio host whenever they get the chance.

well when GM hockey gets to be big enough to have a radio station, I nominate SSF to be the radio personality as he will be a welcome change from those low rent personalities. :___:

Then every day would be "Metal Monday".

Seriously, these 1200 guys are under the thumb of the Senators organization, as was proven when they complied with the cease and desist order regarding making fun of the "Spartan".

Besides, they're all there to try and take a step up to bigger and better things. They're like the Rogers 22 of radio.

I think the Senators should always consider the possibility of bringing Heatley back. Given the current trade landscape and cap situation of the teams that Heatley has on his list, it's evident that any trade will not involve an elite or premier talent coming back.

This guy is still a 50-goal, 100-point player on a team that doesn't have a coach who couldn't coach his way out of a paper bag.

Should he return? I don't think so, unfortunately. Too much damage has been done in my estimation. There are always going to be questions asked of him during the season about his willingness to play here if he has an off game or whatever. It's a tricky situation for sure. But it's the type of scenario the Sens should just move on from.

At the same time though, I'm definitely a proponent of waiting for the right trade to materialize rather than just offloading him for the sake of it.

Hopefully things work out with this Heatley situation. This team seems to be turning a corner rather quickly on the coming season, it would be a shame to have something like this hang over the players and team.