Posted by by M.P. Kelly
courtesy: Flickr
Saturday’s trade, which sent Heatley to the Sharks in exchange for Milan Michalek, Jonathan Cheechoo and a second round draft pick, puts to rest a saga that occupied headlines in Ottawa for over 3 months. Heatley was never a fan of the intense scrutiny that came with playing in a hockey mad Canadian city. Now, if the 28-year old wants to read about how he failed to back check, he can check the back of the sports section as opposed to the front page. While Ottawa newspapers continue to talk about the trade, it is a mere footnote on the sports page in San Jose. Seriously, the San Jose Giants (California Baseball League) playoff run is a bigger story today than who Dany Heatley’s line-mates will be. For those that do care, Sharks coach Todd McClellan announced today that Heatley will play left wing on a line with Joe Thornton and Devin Setoguchi. For McLellan’s sake, I hope it’s the first line.
So, now the Sharks have one of the league’s marquee snipers skating alongside one of hockey’s most gifted distributors. A recipe for success right? Well that depends on your definition of the word.
Joe Thornton will centre a line with Dany Heatley and Devin Setoguchi
It is not a stretch to surmise that Dany Heatley and Joe Thornton could compliment each other to the tune of career seasons. Heatley could score 60 goals, Thornton could rack up 90 assists, and it would all mean nothing once the playoffs start. Last season San Jose set franchise records in wins and points and were picked by many to win the Stanley Cup. Well, 82 games of records and individual success were little consolation after the 8th seeded Ducks sent the Sharks packing in the 1st round. It is a scenario that Senator fans are all too familiar with, unparalleled regular season success, followed by inexplicable playoff collapses. Unfortunately for the Sharks, their two top players have been known to pull disappearing acts when the going gets tough. Heatley racked up 21 points in 15 playoff games for the Senators through 3 rounds in 2007. However in the Stanley Cup final, Heatley was held to 1 point in 5 games as the Ducks beat the Senators handily to win the Stanley Cup. While Heatley averaged 0.57 goals per game in his 4 seasons in Ottawa, that number dropped to 0.29 come playoff time. As for Thornton, Jumbo Joe has averaged 1.26 points per game in his 4 seasons with the Sharks; a number that dropped to 0.87 once hockey’s second season rolls around. Point being, that while regular season success is no stranger to Heatley or Thornton, neither has been able to elevate their game to the level needed to win a Stanley Cup.
Can the Sharks avoid another post-season collapse?
Will that change now that they will be line-mates? Maybe. Or maybe the San Jose Sharks just acquired a player who defines what is fundamentally wrong with the organization as a whole.
As for the Senators, some fans are happy to see a resolution to what was a major distraction for the team, while others are shocked that Senators general manager Bryan Murray couldn’t get more in return for Heatley.
Essentially, there are two ways most people look at this deal, with pessimism or optimism. On one hand, you gave up a 2-time 50 goal score for Cheechoo (12 goals last year) and Michalek (23 goals last year). Hardly market value. On the other hand, Bryan Murray was left in a tough situation, and at the end of the day this was the best, if not only, deal on the table. Who knows, maybe Cheechoo can return to the form that saw him score 50 plus goals and win the Rocket Richard trophy. Perhaps, Michalek will become the 30 goal scoring power forward that many believe he can be. As the old adage goes, only time will tell.
But perhaps there was a 3rd option, one that could have benefited all parties. Don’t trade Dany Heatley, yet. There is no question that Bryan Murray did not get fair market value for Heatley. Circumstance played an integral role in the outcome of this trade. That being said, why not keep Heatley until you can get fair market value, say at the trade deadline. This should be motivation enough for Heatley to have a solid season, knowing that his value at the deadline would directly impact his chances of being moved by Ottawa. With the playoffs on the horizon, teams that believe they are one ingredient away from winning the Stanley Cup would certainly give up more than they would at training camp. In this scenario, Heatley would have his motivation to play well in Ottawa, and the Senators could maximize his value on the trade market. Maybe in a perfect world with storybook endings that might work; clearly Bryan Murray just wanted to be rid of the whole mess. The Senators GM waited as long as he could and then took the best offer on the table, it’s hard to blame him for doing so. Having Heatley in the dressing room likely would have done more harm than good in a town where line combination make the front page.
As far as news goes, there has still been no decision as to who will join Chris Phillips as assistant captain in Ottawa, now that Heatley is gone. That designation will be made by head coach Cory Clouston tomorrow.
M.P. Kelly
*photos courtesy: Flickr / AP
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Well written and good points across the board. I agree Thorton and Heatley will no question put up marquis numbers this season, and will probably be side by side wearing the red and white as well. As far as waiting until the deadline to get rid of Heatley, in theory yes, he would have tried to put up personal numbers to keep his stock up but one could guarantee his dressing room presence would have been lacking. The key in getting rid of him before the season was to create a team cohesion right out of the gates, and see how Clouston does with a relatively “new” team. The teams that would have been offering come the trade deadline wouldn’t be willing to give up what they’d have seen as integral pieces to their locker room or on ice talent as they make the push, just to get Heatley. I think Murray being stuck between a rock and a hard place made the right move in taking what the market offered and giving us a fresh start.
Ottawa collectively let out a sigh of relief that was felt where I am 17000km’s away. Go Sens Go
Well said. The Sens did finish strong last season under Clouston and I know that players on the team are excited to continue that success. It works in Ottawa’s favor that 12 of its first 18 games are at home, and only 7 of those games are against playoff teams from last season. With a good start and favorable schedule, this team could surprise.
I don’t see any winners in this trade, other than fantasy hockey owners. Ottawa got relatively little in exchange for Heatley, and San Jose got another stats-first player with little motivation to win a Cup, and a $7.5 million price tag to go along with it. Michalek is an ok player when he feels like it, and Cheechoo is a third-line winger when not on the receiving end of one of Thornton’s amazing passes.. hey, the 2nd rounder might be nice, at least.
I take issue with the whole notion that ‘Murray was in a tough spot’ – which is to say, he was, but he was in one that was completely of his own making.
Heatley has had four coaches in the last four years, and watched as mgt dismantled a Cup contending team.
The latest coach – a rookie – took the step of reducing Heatley’s ice-time, and moving him to the 2nd unit powerplay. Clouston did this presumably in an effort to establish his ‘big dog in the room’ credentials, and he picked Heatley because Alfie as Captain was out of bounds, and Spezza was the teams most likely trade-bait, being infinitely worse in his own zone than Heatley.
Does Heatley complain? No. Instead he requests a meeting with his coach and GM, but his concerns are either ignored or not addressed.
So then he quietly requests a trade – a request that was not leaked by him or his agent.
What does Murray do? Bupkus. He doesn’t make an effort to address the issues between Clouston and Heatley and he doesn’t make an effort to trade Heatley while his value is highest.
And then the Ottawa brass reach the offseason and leak the trade request themselves – blowing the market value for Heatley out of the water.
As a follow up, Murray tries to create an ‘auction’ for Heatley’s services – an auction that includes a team not on Heatley’s list in Edmonton – purely to drive up the price for the Rangers. We all saw how that worked out.
All along Heatley remained quiet – a professional approach one only wishes Murray and his crew of talking heads (including Melnyk the owner) would have taken.
In all I agree, Heatley and the Sharks do deserve each other. The Sharks are a top team, Thornton a top play-maker, and Heatley a top goal scorer – one who has a career ppg playoff rate and played through injuries in the final.
More to the point, the Senators got what they deserve in a high priced, injury prone flame-out in Cheechoo and the never-as-good-as-his-stats, perimeter floater Michalek.
Murray gets my vote for worst GM in the league based on how he handled things.