The Heatley Saga: What's in store in the next 30 days?

wprager wrote:Hmm, if the Rangers dump salary to make room for Heatley, then perhaps their future picks would be actually worth something. I like Dubinsky, but I don't want another center.

Honestly, though, I want to not even think about dealing with another team up against the cap. I don't want significant salary back. I want to clear the cap space so that we can make informed decisions next year, rather than be forced to give up on players strictly on cap concerns.

Let's just call a mulligan on this year -- Heatley will play with the Sens, he'll play in the Olympics with his "buddy" Spezza, and when March rolls around some new destinations will suddenly have room to accommodate his remaining salary. I doubt we are pushing for a long playoff run, but there are probably going to be teams that could use a 50-goal scorer to better-balance their attack heading into the playoffs. Let's face it, Heatley can make *any* team better because there isn't one out there that has a top-six he can't crack. We may not get great picks from a contending team, but we could probably get a younger top-six and prospects.

Let's just forget about this until March. Drop the puck, already, win the face off, pass it to Dany then back to the bench for some congratulatory high-fives.

Have you always felt like this? You have helped me with a lot on here (computer stuff and flash button), so I really pay attention to your posts. I don't recall you ever feeling like this before. For some reason I am in the minority when it comes to wanting Heatley this year, but it is good to know that you feel the same.

Now only 95% of you guys on this site have your head up your waazoo. :$$$$: :^^^:

RobbyJ wrote:

FireOnIce wrote:

wprager wrote:Let's just forget about this until March. Drop the puck, already, win the face off, pass it to Dany then back to the bench for some congratulatory high-fives.

I sure hope so. That is what I voted for in the poll and have never really got on board with trading him anyway.

I don't understand the fascination with getting a Dubinsky, Michalek, Cogliano or D. Roy back as a centerpiece to trading a Top 10 player in the NHL away.

No thanks. Give me Heater anyday. He will play his heart (if he has one) out. We have two things working for us this season with him. He wants to prove his mettle and he wants a medal. :___:

Did you watch Heatley play last year ?? He was nowhere near Top 10 in the league other than by paycheck.

Dany (Tin Man) Heatley will not play hard for Ottawa, he will sulk and suck. He doesn't think he has anything to prove, or else he would have responded to Clousten last season when challenged.

Heatley is in the top 5 for points per game since the lockout and in the last couple of years he is only behind Ovie and Kolovchuk...If he is stuck here this season he will have a lot to prove and hopefully will make himself a more well rounded player so he can get out.

RobbyJ wrote:

FireOnIce wrote:

wprager wrote:Let's just forget about this until March. Drop the puck, already, win the face off, pass it to Dany then back to the bench for some congratulatory high-fives.

I sure hope so. That is what I voted for in the poll and have never really got on board with trading him anyway.

I don't understand the fascination with getting a Dubinsky, Michalek, Cogliano or D. Roy back as a centerpiece to trading a Top 10 player in the NHL away.

No thanks. Give me Heater anyday. He will play his heart (if he has one) out. We have two things working for us this season with him. He wants to prove his mettle and he wants a medal. :___:

Did you watch Heatley play last year ?? He was nowhere near Top 10 in the league other than by paycheck.

Dany (Tin Man) Heatley will not play hard for Ottawa, he will sulk and suck. He doesn't think he has anything to prove, or else he would have responded to Clousten last season when challenged.

Come on Robby, I watch every game. I also have a Flex Package of season tickets and watch a few games live.

Heatley is a Top 10 player in this league. Mostly every Senator had an off year. Are you willing to trade Spezza for Todd White? Their points last year say you should. I could go on and on with these.

Heatley is not as bad as he played last year and I stand by my statement that he has a lot to prove this year for different reasons.

To each their own though. :___:

Phoenix30 wrote:

RobbyJ wrote:

FireOnIce wrote:

wprager wrote:Let's just forget about this until March. Drop the puck, already, win the face off, pass it to Dany then back to the bench for some congratulatory high-fives.

I sure hope so. That is what I voted for in the poll and have never really got on board with trading him anyway.

I don't understand the fascination with getting a Dubinsky, Michalek, Cogliano or D. Roy back as a centerpiece to trading a Top 10 player in the NHL away.

No thanks. Give me Heater anyday. He will play his heart (if he has one) out. We have two things working for us this season with him. He wants to prove his mettle and he wants a medal. :___:

Did you watch Heatley play last year ?? He was nowhere near Top 10 in the league other than by paycheck.

Dany (Tin Man) Heatley will not play hard for Ottawa, he will sulk and suck. He doesn't think he has anything to prove, or else he would have responded to Clousten last season when challenged.

Heatley is in the top 5 for points per game since the lockout and in the last couple of years he is only behind Ovie and Kolovchuk...If he is stuck here this season he will have a lot to prove and hopefully will make himself a more well rounded player so he can get out.

I agree :___: 100%

FireOnIce wrote:

RobbyJ wrote:

FireOnIce wrote:

wprager wrote:Let's just forget about this until March. Drop the puck, already, win the face off, pass it to Dany then back to the bench for some congratulatory high-fives.

I sure hope so. That is what I voted for in the poll and have never really got on board with trading him anyway.

I don't understand the fascination with getting a Dubinsky, Michalek, Cogliano or D. Roy back as a centerpiece to trading a Top 10 player in the NHL away.

No thanks. Give me Heater anyday. He will play his heart (if he has one) out. We have two things working for us this season with him. He wants to prove his mettle and he wants a medal. :___:

Did you watch Heatley play last year ?? He was nowhere near Top 10 in the league other than by paycheck.

Dany (Tin Man) Heatley will not play hard for Ottawa, he will sulk and suck. He doesn't think he has anything to prove, or else he would have responded to Clousten last season when challenged.

Come on Robby, I watch every game. I also have a Flex Package of season tickets and watch a few games live.

Heatley is a Top 10 player in this league. Mostly every Senator had an off year. Are you willing to trade Spezza for Todd White? Their points last year say you should. I could go on and on with these.

Heatley is not as bad as he played last year and I stand by my statement that he has a lot to prove this year for different reasons.

To each their own though. :___:

The question is, does he have the desire or the motivation to prove anything? He's already sitting on a fat contract. If he's going to fold up the tent and sulk when challenged by his coach, that's a bad sign.

I've said it since the day his request for a trade was made public, that he will have no choice but to compete because of the Oympics this year, but the day he returns I expect to see him playing only as hard as he feels like.

FireOnIce wrote:

Have you always felt like this? You have helped me with a lot on here (computer stuff and flash button), so I really pay attention to your posts. I don't recall you ever feeling like this before. For some reason I am in the minority when it comes to wanting Heatley this year, but it is good to know that you feel the same.

Now only 95% of you guys on this site have your head up your waazoo. :$$$$: :^^^:

Wow, that came off as super arrogant. I hope you're not serious.

Look, no one around here is advocating Heatley for magic beans, or for the sake of trading him. If Heatley had never opened his mouth and still wanted to play for us, I dare say that we'd all pretty much agree that we wouldn't trade him for anything less than one of a handful of superstars, or unless financial necessity forced us to.

But times change, and the "let's keep Heatley" sentiment you're advocating here seriously underestimates the kind of damage this whole fiasco has caused for the organization -- from the front office, to the locker room, and down to the fans. We can "want" Heatley back because he's a superstar player all we want, but the fact is that he doesn't want to play for us. If we force him back, we'll be in a godawful spot. Nevermind that he might not play his best in that situation, and that you thus risk seeing your prime asset's value decline even further. Worse yet, our season will be done before it begins. Every single thing that goes wrong this year will raise the Heatley question. Losing streak? Cue the "Heatley's a distraction" rumours. Soft or heartless team, with no one sticking up for the other guy or making sacrifices? Cue the "Heatley's dividing the room" rumours. Sens PP not scoring? Cue the "Heatley's whining and sulking" rumours. It'll never end. It won't matter one jot whether or not Heatley and his "disgruntlement" have anything whatsoever to do with whatever's ailing the team at the time. The media in this down will ground the team morale down to dust. Think winter of 2008, times 10.

Heatley has to go, not because we want to see him go, but because he wants to go and has let the whole world know. He has to go so this team can move forward. There will be no peace, no team, no focus until he's gone.

I don't think he will be in the line-up come October, period. Some people will point at how long this has dragged on and say, "that indicates that a) the offers aren't right or b) no one wants Heatley or c) the trade will be too difficult to pull off because of the large salaries involved." Bull-Dung, I say. NHL GMs live for this brinkmanship, it seems. They wait until the absolute last minute to do just about everything -- just look at how many pending UFAs re-sign in the days leading up to trade deadline or July 1, or how many RFAs settle just days before arbitration, and on and on. I don't see why anyone is shocked that this situation is being treated pretty much exactly the same way.

The only way Heatley stays is if that's precisely what he wants to do and is willing to do what it takes to mend the many bridges he's burned to the ground. I for one don't think there's any chance of that happening, but who knows. But this "he signed the contract, we can force him to play for us" attitude is Donkey backwards and ignores the very real potential consequences. No GM in his right mind is going to dump that toxic sludge into his dressing room and write off his team's season even before it begins. It would be BM committing suicide/teamicide.

The problem I have at this point is that Heatley's actions so far have done nothing to convince me that he'd be a team player if he was not traded and remained a Senator. How long will he continue to hide out? Will he even show up to training camp if he's not traded?

We can talk about the Olympics and upping his value all we want... but he's done nothing to suggest he even cares about any of that.

Maybe he will when he breaks his silence... until then... it's a crap shoot and a gamble.

shabbs wrote:The problem I have at this point is that Heatley's actions so far have done nothing to convince me that he'd be a team player if he was not traded and remained a Senator. How long will he continue to hide out? Will he even show up to training camp if he's not traded?

We can talk about the Olympics and upping his value all we want... but he's done nothing to suggest he even cares about any of that.

Maybe he will when he breaks his silence... until then... it's a crap shoot and a gamble.

I don't think the Olympics thing is an issue. He's always answered the call for the national team, at every level. I don't see why this is different. If it is, we could be in serious trouble, because that would signal to me that there is a much bigger problem with Heatley than simply being choked with Clouston. That would really hamper any trades.

rooneypoo wrote:

FireOnIce wrote:

Have you always felt like this? You have helped me with a lot on here (computer stuff and flash button), so I really pay attention to your posts. I don't recall you ever feeling like this before. For some reason I am in the minority when it comes to wanting Heatley this year, but it is good to know that you feel the same.

Now only 95% of you guys on this site have your head up your waazoo. :$$$$: :^^^:

Wow, that came off as super arrogant. I hope you're not serious.

Look, no one around here is advocating Heatley for magic beans, or for the sake of trading him. If Heatley had never opened his mouth and still wanted to play for us, I dare say that we'd all pretty much agree that we wouldn't trade him for anything less than one of a handful of superstars, or unless financial necessity forced us to.

But times change, and the "let's keep Heatley" sentiment you're advocating here seriously underestimates the kind of damage this whole fiasco has caused for the organization -- from the front office, to the locker room, and down to the fans. We can "want" Heatley back because he's a superstar player all we want, but the fact is that he doesn't want to play for us. If we force him back, we'll be in a godawful spot. Nevermind that he might not play his best in that situation, and that you thus risk seeing your prime asset's value decline even further. Worse yet, our season will be done before it begins. Every single thing that goes wrong this year will raise the Heatley question. Losing streak? Cue the "Heatley's a distraction" rumours. Soft or heartless team, with no one sticking up for the other guy or making sacrifices? Cue the "Heatley's dividing the room" rumours. Sens PP not scoring? Cue the "Heatley's whining and sulking" rumours. It'll never end. It won't matter one jot whether or not Heatley and his "disgruntlement" have anything whatsoever to do with whatever's ailing the team at the time. The media in this down will ground the team morale down to dust. Think winter of 2008, times 10.

Heatley has to go, not because we want to see him go, but because he wants to go and has let the whole world know. He has to go so this team can move forward. There will be no peace, no team, no focus until he's gone.

I don't think he will be in the line-up come October, period. Some people will point at how long this has dragged on and say, "that indicates that a) the offers aren't right or b) no one wants Heatley or c) the trade will be too difficult to pull off because of the large salaries involved." Bull-Dung, I say. NHL GMs live for this brinkmanship, it seems. They wait until the absolute last minute to do just about everything -- just look at how many pending UFAs re-sign in the days leading up to trade deadline or July 1, or how many RFAs settle just days before arbitration, and on and on. I don't see why anyone is shocked that this situation is being treated pretty much exactly the same way.

The only way Heatley stays is if that's precisely what he wants to do and is willing to do what it takes to mend the many bridges he's burned to the ground. I for one don't think there's any chance of that happening, but who knows. But this "he signed the contract, we can force him to play for us" attitude is Donkey backwards and ignores the very real potential consequences. No GM in his right mind is going to dump that toxic sludge into his dressing room and write off his team's season even before it begins. It would be BM committing suicide/teamicide.

That's pretty much it. There's a reason 95% of people feel this way and only a few don't.

Heatley better start applying some serious lib balm if he's gonna end up staying in Ottawa... lots of puckering up and kissing ass to be done.

Has it been 30 days yet?

SeawaySensFan wrote:Has it been 30 days yet?

I think it's been 48 hours...

rooneypoo wrote:

FireOnIce wrote:

Have you always felt like this? You have helped me with a lot on here (computer stuff and flash button), so I really pay attention to your posts. I don't recall you ever feeling like this before. For some reason I am in the minority when it comes to wanting Heatley this year, but it is good to know that you feel the same.

Now only 95% of you guys on this site have your head up your waazoo. :$$$$: :^^^:

Wow, that came off as super arrogant. I hope you're not serious.

Look, no one around here is advocating Heatley for magic beans, or for the sake of trading him. If Heatley had never opened his mouth and still wanted to play for us, I dare say that we'd all pretty much agree that we wouldn't trade him for anything less than one of a handful of superstars, or unless financial necessity forced us to.

But times change, and the "let's keep Heatley" sentiment you're advocating here seriously underestimates the kind of damage this whole fiasco has caused for the organization -- from the front office, to the locker room, and down to the fans. We can "want" Heatley back because he's a superstar player all we want, but the fact is that he doesn't want to play for us. If we force him back, we'll be in a godawful spot. Nevermind that he might not play his best in that situation, and that you thus risk seeing your prime asset's value decline even further. Worse yet, our season will be done before it begins. Every single thing that goes wrong this year will raise the Heatley question. Losing streak? Cue the "Heatley's a distraction" rumours. Soft or heartless team, with no one sticking up for the other guy or making sacrifices? Cue the "Heatley's dividing the room" rumours. Sens PP not scoring? Cue the "Heatley's whining and sulking" rumours. It'll never end. It won't matter one jot whether or not Heatley and his "disgruntlement" have anything whatsoever to do with whatever's ailing the team at the time. The media in this down will ground the team morale down to dust. Think winter of 2008, times 10.

Heatley has to go, not because we want to see him go, but because he wants to go and has let the whole world know. He has to go so this team can move forward. There will be no peace, no team, no focus until he's gone.

I don't think he will be in the line-up come October, period. Some people will point at how long this has dragged on and say, "that indicates that a) the offers aren't right or b) no one wants Heatley or c) the trade will be too difficult to pull off because of the large salaries involved." Bull-Dung, I say. NHL GMs live for this brinkmanship, it seems. They wait until the absolute last minute to do just about everything -- just look at how many pending UFAs re-sign in the days leading up to trade deadline or July 1, or how many RFAs settle just days before arbitration, and on and on. I don't see why anyone is shocked that this situation is being treated pretty much exactly the same way.

The only way Heatley stays is if that's precisely what he wants to do and is willing to do what it takes to mend the many bridges he's burned to the ground. I for one don't think there's any chance of that happening, but who knows. But this "he signed the contract, we can force him to play for us" attitude is Donkey backwards and ignores the very real potential consequences. No GM in his right mind is going to dump that toxic sludge into his dressing room and write off his team's season even before it begins. It would be BM committing suicide/teamicide.

I thought I used enough emoticons to emphasize the fact that I was joking. That is the problem with message boards. Oh well.

But, that was an unbelievably good retort by you. I'm impressed.

For the record, I never said I want Heatley for the life of his contract. His value is uber low right now. I am advocating letting him start the year in Ottawa, watching him light up the scoreboard due to the motivational factors of the Olympics (and playing with Spezza, Alfie and Kovalev on the PP) doesn't hurt either. When his trade value is at its highest, goodbye Heater.

Hope this clears some things up from the tone of my original post standpoint and that joke I threw in at the end. :**:

RobbyJ wrote:

FireOnIce wrote:

wprager wrote:Let's just forget about this until March. Drop the puck, already, win the face off, pass it to Dany then back to the bench for some congratulatory high-fives.

I sure hope so. That is what I voted for in the poll and have never really got on board with trading him anyway.

I don't understand the fascination with getting a Dubinsky, Michalek, Cogliano or D. Roy back as a centerpiece to trading a Top 10 player in the NHL away.

No thanks. Give me Heater anyday. He will play his heart (if he has one) out. We have two things working for us this season with him. He wants to prove his mettle and he wants a medal. :___:

Did you watch Heatley play last year ?? He was nowhere near Top 10 in the league other than by paycheck.

And horrifyingly, he was number one in that respect.

Senschirp's latest update seems to indicate that this is going nowhere fast.

SeawaySensFan wrote:Senschirp's latest update seems to indicate that this is going nowhere fast.

No way. I find that hard to believe. :^^^:

Heater on the Sens come opening night. I can't wait and it really is the best possible scenario out of the truly realistic scenarios out there. We can all dream of possible trades, but really it's just bloggers making things up to appease us, the fans.

Love it. :___:

I'm not sure who is making up things but when I see that Murray is apparently crazy enough to think that Dubinsky can be signed for under 2-million, I wonder.

Then when you have a "possible" trade with Minnesota that would include Burns and the obligatory former 67, Cuma, for good measure, it's just too "ideal".

As for San Jose, Wilson seems to think he is going to get Heatley for what he got Boyle and Thornton for... Murray isnt an idiot like that last 2 guys Wilson has dealt with. That's tough for him, looks like he has lied to the fans in saying "big changes are coming".

I dont care if Heatley is dealt one way or another, but Wilson looks like a moron at this point.