Heatley gone

[Longball]

heatley for michalek, cheechoo and a second rder done deal. TSN twitter reporting

[Shivas Irons]

I'm glad this is finally over but what a horrible trade for the Sens. Now I'm looking forward to the Sharks first visit to Ottawa

[spackler]

Michalek is a good player, he plays well in the d end so even when he's not scoring he's still contributing. Cheechoo can't be as bad as he was last year, and even if he is, at least he only has two years left on his contract. If he plays somewhere in between his last season (14 goals), and the 56 goal season, with him, Michalek and Kovalev Ottawa will have some real scoring depth for the first time since Hossa and Havlat left town.

[jonf]

bad trade.

To wait this long for the right trade, and then settle for this, is poor GMing. Yes, Heatley put them in a bad situation, but the line for the last 2 months was that Murray wouldn't settle for anything less than an excellent deal. This is just barely a passable deal.

[jonf]

The real question now is....what the hell is San Jose going to do. They've now got 7 roster spots to fill, and only 3.5 million (or so) to do it.

[3Jack]

bad trade.

To wait this long for the right trade, and then settle for this, is poor GMing. Yes, Heatley put them in a bad situation, but the line for the last 2 months was that Murray wouldn't settle for anything less than an excellent deal. This is just barely a passable deal.

This is addition by subtraction.

We should evaluate the trade in April, May, or June. Jumping to condemnation of Murray right now is too easy.

[3Jack]

Michalek is a good player, he plays well in the d end so even when he's not scoring he's still contributing. Cheechoo can't be as bad as he was last year, and even if he is, at least he only has two years left on his contract. If he plays somewhere in between his last season (14 goals), and the 56 goal season, with him, Michalek and Kovalev Ottawa will have some real scoring depth for the first time since Hossa and Havlat left town.

I agree. Michalek is the wildcard here... projections for his development have been strong.

And rather than putting all eggs in one basket, Ottawa now has balanced scoring, provided that Cheechoo returns to form.

[rezadue]

I M not too crazy about what we got back. But good riddance Heatley.

[big mac]

Guys --I don't comment much when it comes to the in and outs behind the scenes; but in my opinion thank the lord he's gone---maybe everyone can focus 100% on what they are supposed to be doing---hell they couldn,t even have a game of golf yesterday without the subject coming up-----no wonder the team asked him to stay away.

Geez---it,s going to cost us 36.7 million for a "no O train"---what,s a few more to get rid of Heatly ???

[XTOUR]

I don't like the trade at all.!! I'm happy with Michalek but not cheechoo. Think we could have done better. Basically it's Michalek for Heatley. I do though believe that Heatley will not be as productive. He is one dimensional. Always in the slot waiting for a one timer. SJ is fast paced run and gun. Can heatley even keep up? Good riddance. Just hope it works in Ottawa's favour. Oh. ....by the way heard a rumour from a friend close to Spezza that Heatley got his ass kicked at the Year end party. Apparently he went up to Foligno and was dissing him...ended up in a fight and had his ass handed to him.....;part of the reason he wanted a trade.

[Hacker]

I happy with the deal, Michalek is a young power-forward type that is projected to be a solid top 6 guy. Cheechoo has show some hands in the past AND we don't have to worry about our room going in the ter AGAIN.

This trade finally gives us a balanced attach and I think we also got a huge up-grade in the heart Dept.

Murray now needs to shift his focus to another NHL caliber D-man........

[Weazl]

Murray now needs to shift his focus to another NHL caliber D-man........[/QUOTE]

I was just going to say this. We now have a lot of good forarwds:

Alfredsson
Spezza
Kovalev
Michaelak
Cheechoo
Fisher
Foligno

But we need some D. Volchenkov can't do it all on his own and Phillips is losing a step.

[Hank Hill]

No way to know if it is good or not, but I see a lot of potential in Michalek and Cheechoo, if it works out we could have some secondary scoring. IMO this is better than the EDM deal Michalek > Cogliano, Cheechoo > Penner, Smid = Schubert

[Hacker]

No way to know if it is good or not, but I see a lot of potential in Michalek and Cheechoo, if it works out we could have some secondary scoring. IMO this is better than the EDM deal Michalek > Cogliano, Cheechoo > Penner, Smid = Schubert

Agreed!!

[fundonny]

i'm happy as well. let's see in april, may, and june like 3jack said.

[XTOUR]

I agree, a lot more heart and hopefully secondary scoring. Thing is you never know. A change of scenery benefits some more than others

[fundonny]

True. If Heat scores 100 points in SJ, doesn't mean he would have done it in Ottawa.

[Hank Hill]

We need golfbum to weigh in, he's a sharks fan, would be interesting to see what he thinks of Michalek and Cheechoo...

[XTOUR]

True. If Heat scores 100 points in SJ, doesn't mean he would have done it in Ottawa.

Do you really think that is going to happen? I personally think he will end up on the second line. The west is fast paced and I don't think he will be able to keep up.

[Hank Hill]

Do you really think that is going to happen? I personally think he will end up on the second line. The west is fast paced and I don't think he will be able to keep up.

LOL. if he does, he'll be "looking for options" again...

[Hacker]

Bottom line for me is the Heatley is GONE!!

I don't want anyone wearing my home team's colors who doesn't want to play here

[dwalker]

I think this is a great trade for Ottawa. They now have some scoring spead over 2 lines instead of having only one line. Finally, the coaches can start finding some more balanced line combinations, instead of relying on just Spezza with Heatley and Alfie to score some goals. Both players they got back can score goals plus have much better speed. The real bonus is shedding a huge over priced contract.

[jonf]

This is addition by subtraction.

We should evaluate the trade in April, May, or June. Jumping to condemnation of Murray right now is too easy.

It wouldn't bother me if it wasn't for the months of "we will not give this guy up unless we get a great deal in return". They could have had this deal at any point during the summer. The big obstacle to a deal with SJ had been that San Jose needed to move salary. That was holding up the trade. But now, without dumping any cap, they have made a trade anyway. This tells me that Brian Murray settled for the Sharks second offer, which was likely on the table the whole time. I would rather have kept a guy who will average over 40 goals a year for the next five years, even if he is a bit of a jackass.

I do like the addition of Michalek, but the last thing we need is another overpaid second/third liner (Cheechoo). The guy had one good season, 4 years ago. He's the Jim Carey of 50 goal scorers.

[jonf]

Bottom line for me is the Heatley is GONE!!

I don't want anyone wearing my home team's colors who doesn't want to play here

I don't care what he's wearing, or where he wants to be. If he's getting 50 goals a year, or 40 in a bad year, i'll put up with his bull any day of the week.

Heatley is still an ass for wanting out.

[jonf]

Do you really think that is going to happen? I personally think he will end up on the second line. The west is fast paced and I don't think he will be able to keep up.

Ya.. Joe Thornton's a real speedster. Those two are going to tear it up together. After seeing Thornton create a 56 goal third liner, I don't even want to think what he can do with Heatley.

[brucestats]

I think the Sens did pretty good just getting Heatley out of Ottawa before training camp. What a mess that would have been. Murray got a decent enough deal, but the team that gets the best player wins these trades most of the time. San Jose is the clear winner here.

[justsomeguy]

It wouldn't bother me if it wasn't for the months of "we will not give this guy up unless we get a great deal in return". They could have had this deal at any point during the summer.

Apparently this is not true. From what I heard Michalek was a late addition and that made the difference.

[3Jack]

I don't care what he's wearing, or where he wants to be. If he's getting 50 goals a year, or 40 in a bad year, i'll put up with his bull any day of the week.

Heatley is still an ass for wanting out.

I think Ottawa has put up with too much bull over the years from prima donna players who think they're better than the team - Yashin, Emery, and now Heatley to name just three.

The problem Murray had making this deal was that the 29 other GMs out there KNEW he had to make this deal, and held him over a barrel because of it. Murray may not have received as much as he would have initially wanted, but the last thing you want to have on your team is a player who doesn't want to be here.

[jonf]

Well, I certainly don't think Emery deserves to be in that list. The only thing that guy did wrong was wanting to play. Paddock mishandled the situation, by caving to Emery's requests for ice time when he had the hottest team...ever. But, that's another story altogether.

Look what they did with the Yashin situation though. They stood their ground, forced him to fulfil his contract obligations, and then fleeced the Isles in one of the most lopsided trades in league history. That is how you deal with a disgruntled player.

Again, what I have a problem with more than anything is the way Murray carried on and on about how they would only trade heatley if it was a good hockey move for the team. Well, this wasn't a good hockey move. That's fine...sometimes you have to make trades you don't want to make....but don't pretend it's something it's not.

There's something about the way Murray operates that just doesn't sit well with me. He always seems to be trying to get away with something, try to hide something, try to mislead someone. He strikes me as a guy who's more concerned about keeping his job than actually improving his team.

[3Jack]

Well, I certainly don't think Emery deserves to be in that list. The only thing that guy did wrong was wanting to play. Paddock mishandled the situation, by caving to Emery's requests for ice time when he had the hottest team...ever. But, that's another story altogether.

Interesting, I'm agreeable here, but Emery put himself before the team.

Look what they did with the Yashin situation though. They stood their ground, forced him to fulfil his contract obligations, and then fleeced the Isles in one of the most lopsided trades in league history. That is how you deal with a disgruntled player.

This deal was struck with an Islander management team that my 10 year old son could have bettered, by far. It's easy to say this was a fleecing after the fact. At the time, Chara was a gangly, unknown entity, a curiosity as it were, a project. Spezza a talented junior, who was still almost a year away from making a significant contribution at the NHL level. It was easy to be critical of that deal at the time it was made too - although there was even more public vitriol against Yashin than there was Heatley.

Again, what I have a problem with more than anything is the way Murray carried on and on about how they would only trade heatley if it was a good hockey move for the team. Well, this wasn't a good hockey move. That's fine...sometimes you have to make trades you don't want to make....but don't pretend it's something it's not.

Not a good hockey move, in your opinion. My opinion counts as much as yours on this matter - specifically, very little. Let's judge the deal, like all deals must be judged, over the long term.

There's something about the way Murray operates that just doesn't sit well with me. He always seems to be trying to get away with something, try to hide something, try to mislead someone. He strikes me as a guy who's more concerned about keeping his job than actually improving his team.

He strikes me as the exact opposite of that actually. Maybe he reminds me too much of my Dad, but he comes across to me as a thoughtful, straight shooting guy who is concerned more with doing what's right for the team than hanging on for dear life.