1) The seemingly endless story of Dany Heatly wanting to be dealt and Ottawa trying to peddle the former all star goes on and on. We haven't weighed in on this in a while so we decided in the Dog Days with little else going on (Even Eklund has had little made up news recently) we'd review whats been going on behind the scenes to get a better hold of whats transpiring.
2) The whole issue seems to go back to last January when Ottawa GM (and former coach) Bryan Murray and Heatley had a bit of a run in after another Sens loss. It wasn't long afterwards that the Sens fired their coach Craig Hartsburg and replaced him with rookie head coach Cory Clouston. After their run- in, Heatley had little use for Murray and wasn't all that enamoured with Murray's choice of Hartsburg's replacement. Although he didn't 'dog it', "he clearly wasn't putting out 100%", is what one Ottawa source tells Fauxrumors. With Murray's blessing Clouston cut Heatley's PP time and in the process pissed off the wing even more. It was then that Heatley decided it was time to get out of town before things deteriorated further.
3) After the season Heatley through his agent informed Murray of his clients request to be moved. After requesting that Heatley make his request formal, he also included, as his contractual prerogative, a list of teams he'd agree to go. This is where things get interesting. Murray, knowing full well that he couldn't just up and trade a high salaried player like Healtley to such a short list of teams and get a proper return, leaked Heatley's request through the media so fans wouldn't take his head off for trading one of their best players for a relative pittance. To stick it to Heatley further Murray decided to not request deals from the list Dany gave, but to destinations that Murray knew Heatley would dislike. This is where the Edmonton deal came into play. Murray again leaked the potential deal and when Heatkley refused to go (no shocker really) it was another relative PR win/face saving ploy for Ottawa/Murray.
4) Not only did Heatley seem to be rejecting one Canadian city, but was rejecting two! Edmonton already had a bit of an inferiority complex with the departures of Chris Pronger, Ryan Smyth, and Michael Nylander's contract issue, etc. Now another player seemed to be dissing the land of Oil. It seemed that Edmonton was trying to bend over backwards to try to persuade Heatley to go there, but they didn't know that it was now a power play between Heatley and Murray. Even if Heatley wanted to go to Edmonton it would be on his terms, NOT to help out "that bastard" as friends say Heatley now calls Murray. Which leaves us where we are now, apparent limbo.
5) We talked with as many sources-in the know- that we could get a hold of, and would comment. From what we have learned a deal to trade Heatley is still the most likely scenario. As we wrote this spring, via a trusted source, Heatley has played his last game in Ottawa (as a Senator). Murray apparently has resumed trying to unload the millionaire forward but will likely get very little other than a 2nd line forward, prospect and a high pick for him. Look for a deal to get consummated BEFORE training camp opens. A Western Conference team is the most likely destination. So in the end neither party is the 'good guy' Both are looking like jerks (and are).
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