Defending Heatley on A Monday Afternoon

Written by Nichols

Monday, 29 June 2009 10:48

Less than 24 hours after I penned an open letter to Dany Heatley -- and I can't believe I'm doing a piece to defend Dany Heatley.

Now, before I start, I recognize that his representatives have fucked this whole situation up. By leaking his trade request and by subsequently throwing Cory Clouston under the bus, they've proverbially strapped some C4 to their client's reputation. For the way the fans and the organization have treated Heatley since he arrived in town following the Dan Snyder tragedy, we deserved better than this.

However, this is where people have to draw the line in shitting on Heatley. Everything that happened in Atlanta to me is moot. It was an unfortunate incident that he's been forgiven for by Snyder's family. Comparing his trade request now to what it was then is comparing apples to oranges. To retroactively shit on Heatley now for wanting out of the Atlanta situation is completely tasteless.

Without having addressed the media, the only substance we've been left to analyze what we do know -- that he and Cory Clouston weren't on the same page. And judging by the character assassination he's endured from the League and the media, he's the first professional player to not get along with his coach.

Despite improved production and an improvement in the standings, Heatley was offended by not playing on the top power play unit. For pundits, this wasn't a good enough excuse and speculation has persisted that something else had to have happened to cue the trade demand but as of now, we don't know.

What I do know is that I read the papers, the blogs and some renowned sites and the misinformation that's being circulated around is astounding. If the Clouston drama wasn't enough to drive down Heatley's value, this alleged $4M bonus that's owed on July 1st is being characterized as some breaking point for teams that don't want to pony up the dough for him.

At its finest, it's 100% posturing bullshit.

If you were a GM, you'd have to ask yourself this:

If Heatley's contract was front-loaded in the first year ($10M) and his bonus wasn't a bonus and was actually the front-loaded portion of half his 2009/2010 salary, why wouldn't you want to trade for him before July 1st?

At its basic level, Dany Heatley signed a $45M, 6-year pact. After July 1st, Heatley will have been paid $14M. In other words, ignore his annual cap hit of $7.5M. If you inherit his contract after July 1st, you'll only be paying Dany $31M for the next 5 seasons -- an average of $6.2M per year. That's a bargain for an elite goal scorer who is recently removed from back-to-back 50 goal campaigns.

Why wait until after July 1st to take on Heatley on Bryan Murray has come out publicly and said that the asking price is only going to go up? If you're not going to take on Heatley's $4M, you better be prepared to eat a bad salary (ie. Jason Smith) in return.

UPDATE @ 2:45 PM:

According to the Ottawa Sun:

Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk says he's "disappointed" Dany Heatley wants off the team.

"The best way to describe it is disappointing at this point," Melnyk said in Petawawa Monday.

Melnyk, who worked hard to sign the sniper, said he's leaving any hockey decisions about Heatley's future with general manager Bryan Murray.

"We'll be on the phone this afternoon getting an update," Melnyk said.

Melnyk said the last time he talked to Heatley was immediately after the season, but not recently. ~ Jon Willing, Sun Media

Congrats Euge and thanks for being the bigger man here. At least you didn't tell Heatley and his representatives to get their own bomb and go blow themselves up.

However, barring a great return on Heatley or a complete retraction of his trade request, a return to the playoffs may be a bit of a stretch for next season. In fact, in your press conference last season, you mentioned that the organization was not completely crippled. It needed fine tuning, and some tweaking, it needs a player here, a player there, a few good bounces and that's it.

A few good bounces indeed.