Heatley From Another Angle
August 24th, 2009, 12:07 pm
I thought everything remotely interesting about the Dany Heatley affair has already been written. But I was wrong. Tom Benjamin is one of the best hockey bloggers, and his latest about Heatley is certainly an interesting take on things. Important points to notice about this whole deal.
- Heatley asked for a trade in May, not June when the story came out.
- Heatley did not leak that request to the media- the Senators did.
- Once Heatley is painted as a whiner and malcontent, the potential deal for Cogliano, Smid, and Penner looks better than it really should.
Does this change your thinking about whether the Sharks should get Heatley? To me, it does a little bit. The fact that a player couldn’t get along with a coach is hardly a new phenomenon. He’s a star, he feels entitled, so he wants to play somewhere else. I maintain my point about any Heatley deal being a big risk for the Sharks, even if he’s not a ‘locker room cancer’- it’s a lot of money and a lot of years. All in all, Doug’s point still holds- the priority should be improving the third and fourth lines, not shuffling players around the first two.
Now, even more drama about Heatley- I see this headline, but no article: “A proposed three-team trade that would have sent Ottawa’s Dany Heatley to San Jose fell through when Sharks captain Patrick Marleau refused to waive his no-trade clause.” Hmm, now after reading Tom’s post, I wonder where that information came from?
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Brian Murray is Deep Throat.
Murray won’t have his job for too long. I remember Pollak mentioning how pissed DW was that his trade request (Cheechoo+Error for Heater) leaked into the press. Someone in Ottawa likes to do that, since we also heard about our request to trade for Neil at the deadline and for Redden the year before and that makes any negotiations hard. I’m sure it didn’t please Cheech or Error all that much to hear they were being shopped.
I’m also thinking it won’t work to Marleau’s favor if someone confirms the OC Register story (Pollak wrote that he’s trying to chase it down today) – not in the locker room or in his contract negotiations this coming season.
Ivan,
Doug and I have already had a conversation about your last point- we’ll certainly include that discussion in this week’s podcast.
Pollak is reporting that Marleau being asked to waive his NTC is not true.
http://blogs.mercurynews.com/sharks/2009/08/24/sharks-gm-patrick-marleau-has-not-been-asked-to-waive-his-no-trade-clause/
I don’t think Heatley is Jarome Iginla or even Marleau when it comes to character, but from what I’ve gathered it looks like he really has gotten smeared in the press. If you assume he didn’t leak the trade request, then all of his actions in the name of not “creating a circus” such as not speaking until a few days ago make perfect sense.
If the ball is in DW’s court for a Cheech/Milan + Ehrhoff deal, pull the trigger. Heatley would be a monster in SJ.
Good evening,
My name is Richie Denis, I’m the director of business development at MVN.com.
I found your blog in a google search. I was wondering if perhaps you’d be interesting in establishing your blog at MVN.
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There are a few different options:
1. You can write for one of MVN.com’s blog and promote your current blog through this site. All that we ask is that you post to MVN atleast once a week.
2. You can move your blog over to the Most Valuable Network.com and establish yourself there.
3. You can create your own blog on MVN and do a mixture of the two prior options!
Please let me know if you’re interested. As I said before we’d love to have you aboard! I can get you up and blogging right away.
Suggestions are welcome.
Sincerely,
Richie Denis
Kind of a shame the guy couldn’t even figure out how to use email to contact the dudes…
Yeah, when a director of business development is spamming comment threads, it doesn’t bode well.
Mike –
It is however a sign that the site is going up in Google rankings. Hooray!
Hey thanks for giving me shit.. rough hockey crowd over here..
and sorry guys.. you were on the 7th page of a Sharks NHL.blogspot search ;-).
In all seriousness though, sent an e-mail also.
We’re internet posters, it’s what we do.
Us Shark fans do not mess around.
Guys,
My contention is that the Sharks real problem is with the second line, not the 3rd and 4th. I expect the 2nd line to produce pts not the 4th line…
Where was Pavs, Michalek, and Clowe in the PO’s last year? They disappeared. we need the 2nd line tinkered just as much as the third line.
My Contention with getting Heatly is that is almost forces Patty back to centering the 2nd line which is what I think he is much more suited for. Getting Heatley addresses the lack of production on the 2nd line, if you don’t give up Marleau in the process, and I would not trade Marleau. I am alright with leaving Marleau, Thornton, and Seto on the first line and not tinkering with that setup, but I am REALLY NOT OK with leaving the 2nd line, that totally disappeared in that first round with Anaheim, in tact.
While I think the 2nd line was the #1 cause for the playoff flop, a 6 game sample size is tough to grade a line that was one of the best in the NHL over an 82 game season.
That said, having Marleau on the second line, either at wing or C (I would have to think he would center the line, he was ok moving to Thornton’s wing but I think he would be less so for Pavs) would be an upgrade.
Wasn’t Marleau on Pav’s wing during 07-08 for the entire year? Not that it was a good year for him by any means, but I don’t think that was so much Pavs as it was he was just in a major funk.