Opinion Poll: If you could....

If you could undo the Heatley trade, take him back and return the defective Cheechoo and the very talented, but sometimes inconsistent Michalek and the 2nd round pick to SJ (and the 5th round pick back to Ottawa), would you?

It's a fairly simple question - and definitely an opinion piece, but I'm curious.

FYP (Fixed Your Poll).

What about waiting and finding a better deal?

I would undo it. I like Michalek, but the return was just not good enough.

The year would have turned into a media circus with the narrative of Heatley vs Clouston. The price to avoid this distraction was worth it. His value wouldn't have increased throughout this time period because Ottawa would have been just as openly desperate as they were in the summer if not worse. We would have had an unhappy sniper getting grilled by the press and fans after every home game. If his play didn't suffer from this focus i'm sure the team's play overall would have.

I got pretty sick of the distraction that was heatley all summer last year, and I was actually very angry he was still around 1st day of training camp. Of course when he got traded, I thought it was a terrible trade. Hindsight though, I'm just happy we got rid of him somehow someway. I'd hate to imagine what the season with him would have been like.

Even if he affected the team's play and caused us to miss the playoffs, we would have gotten a better first round pick. I'm sure Melnyk would not enjoy missing out on playoff revenue, but hey, he lost money anyway.

Big Ev wrote:Even if he affected the team's play and caused us to miss the playoffs, we would have gotten a better first round pick. I'm sure Melnyk would not enjoy missing out on playoff revenue, but hey, he lost money anyway.

Who knows? Heatley still had control of where he was going to be dealt. There's no guarantee that the deal could have been better. After all the work Murray's done to clean up the locker room he would have taken two steps backward letting a sour puss sour the room. To use a lame gambling analogy, I think Murray made a good safe move by cashing in on a modest but sure thing as opposed to continuing and risk losing more in the end.

Tuk Tuk wrote:What about waiting and finding a better deal?

Not an option. Heatley was a cancer here. I thought the same at first, but I think now that it had to be done.

Big Ev wrote:Even if he affected the team's play and caused us to miss the playoffs, we would have gotten a better first round pick. I'm sure Melnyk would not enjoy missing out on playoff revenue, but hey, he lost money anyway.

he would have lost more with a very disgruntled fan base if he was still around. Now none of us were there, but I choose to believe murray when he said that he had no choice after meeting a very unhappy Heatley at training camp. What does that say about Heatley? He said he'd play for the senators if a deal couldn't be reached (talking about Heatley), but all he did was came to training camp, threw a hissy fit about how he wasn't traded yet, and then got his wish to go to San Jose. Murray obviously saw how unhealthy it would have been to have him around...so again I'd rather make the playoffs even if it means a first round sweep than to miss it. So automatically, this is a win for me. Getting Michalek and as a result, Sutton, was just gravy

wprager wrote:FYP (Fixed Your Poll).

What does the Snort Giggle mean though? You're laughing at the suggestion?

SpezDispenser wrote:

wprager wrote:FYP (Fixed Your Poll).

What does the Snort Giggle mean though? You're laughing at the suggestion?

Spezza laugh?

Is it? What would that have to do with this?

only Prags can enlighten us with the answer

A-ha-ha-ha-ha-snort-giggle-ha!
i love it.breaking up the two sisters had to be done. and to be honest i liked alot of what i sw in the second part of the season from spezza. he's growing.