GAME DAY: Ottawa Senators @ Pittsburgh Penguins - 1:00pm ET - FRI. Nov. 26, 2010

Big Ev wrote:Exactly, Heatley would not have quit on his teammates, he never had a problem with them by all acounts.

By some accounts, he did. Again, this all goes back to the fact that Heatley never came out and talked about it himself. He never picked up Alfie's calls -- then the Captain calls you answer. He didn't come to Spezza's wedding -- if there really wasn't anything between him and the other players, he would have faced the music, held a press conference beforehand so as not to take away from Jason/Jennifer's day, and come to the wedding. Plus I remember reading somewhere that he wanted more of a leadership role but was stymied by the "old guard", which I assume to be Alfie, Phillips, Fisher, Neil (or was that Chara who said that?)

And, sure, we would have gotten more for him at the trade deadline (assuming he continued scoring goals) but where would the team have been in the standings? And if he really did ruin the atmosphere in the room, he probably would not be scoring 30 goals by the break, either.

Oh, and one final comment to Rooney, anyone who thinks differently to you does not automatically have to be a fool. That was an unnecessary comment.

marakh wrote:

rooneypoo wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:

SDH89 wrote:I hate Heatley as much as the next guy, but I'd kill to have a 39 goal scorer on this team.

Go get one then. This summer Semin's available to the highest bidder, the Lightning will want to shed salary because of Stamkos, there's tons of scenarios. If you're willing to pay 7.5 million, you can get a 35 goal scorer.

The team that pays Semin that much is going to regret it for years to come. That one is money in the bank.

Lecavalier will probably become available, but who wants him with that contract? And he hasn't played great hockey in years.

I don't know if there's a lot of great options this year, to be honest. The key for OTT really is, if you ask me, to start stockpiling some good young forward prospects. The teams who chase after the FA talent almost always get burned. For every 1 success story (I can't think of great examples here, honestly ), there are 10 teams burnt by bad FA signings and bloated contracts.

You don't build teams through FA; you do it through drafts and, occasionally, savvy trades.

I agree with this. We need to find a way to develop guys like Chicago did the past 7 years, guys like Bolland, Byfuglien, Versteeg, Brouwer etc. I think guys like Hoffman, Butler, Stone etc in 3-4 years will be able to make the team in a comfortable role.

As for Heatley, having to talk to a guy in your locker room for months that wants out can be absolutely disastrous. It has nothing to do with Heatley's effort on the ice, if you don't have that unity in your locker room, you're dead. Just look at what Avery did to the Stars last year. I think you guys seriously underestimate that point.

Exactly. Thank you for saving me 5 minutes of typing.

wprager wrote:

Big Ev wrote:Exactly, Heatley would not have quit on his teammates, he never had a problem with them by all acounts.

By some accounts, he did. Again, this all goes back to the fact that Heatley never came out and talked about it himself. He never picked up Alfie's calls -- then the Captain calls you answer. He didn't come to Spezza's wedding -- if there really wasn't anything between him and the other players, he would have faced the music, held a press conference beforehand so as not to take away from Jason/Jennifer's day, and come to the wedding. Plus I remember reading somewhere that he wanted more of a leadership role but was stymied by the "old guard", which I assume to be Alfie, Phillips, Fisher, Neil (or was that Chara who said that?)

And, sure, we would have gotten more for him at the trade deadline (assuming he continued scoring goals) but where would the team have been in the standings? And if he really did ruin the atmosphere in the room, he probably would not be scoring 30 goals by the break, either.

Oh, and one final comment to Rooney, anyone who thinks differently to you does not automatically have to be a fool. That was an unnecessary comment.

Meh, I said meant to say "it's foolish to think otherwise," not that "you're a fool." It's the argument, and not the person, I'm criticizing.

That said, anyone who thinks that a team or individual player or set of players could have prospered in that toxic environment probably needs to remember that there's a big difference between managing a fantasy hockey team and a real hockey team.

Actually, we would have been better off with a toxic Heatley because we would have not made the playoffs and got a much better draft pick. That beats bowing out in the first round.

Big Ev wrote:Actually, we would have been better off with a toxic Heatley because we would have not made the playoffs and got a much better draft pick. That beats bowing out in the first round.

Yeah, I can't deny that one. It's tougher than most people can imagine, tho', to support a re-building team and/or watch their team play awful hockey for months on end. I know a few EDM fans, and they are stoked about Hall, etc., for sure, but these have been tough, tough seasons for them.

Big Ev wrote:My point was to not keep him forever, it was to keep him and then trade him at the deadline. More teams would have been interested at the deadline (injuries to their players, team needs, playoff hunt etc.) and we would have gotten a more fair return then, IMO.

What difference would that have made, he controlled his destination and he wanted to go to SJ and I think they knew it. I doubt the deal would have gotten any better, and in fact if the Sens had fallen completely apart because of Heatley it may have been worse.