Bryan Murray practicing patience...
Posted 4:16 PM ET | Comments 0
So news continues to spread over where Heatley may or may not end up and what's coming back. Many seem to believe that Heatley will not return as much as he's worth considering his media portrayal over the last couple months has hurt his chances of bringing a better return.
However, Bryan Murray knows exactly what he wants for Heatley and he's not going to accept a trade where he doesn't get great solid value in return. Forget about Plekanec, or Erhoff, or Vlasic being the main return in any deal involving Heatley. Heatley is by far and above a better player than those by a long shot, even with his supposed attitude problems. Every GM in the league knows what Heatley can do and it is not a risk at all to bring Heatley in, because you can be guarateed he will score you at least 35-50 goals for the next few seasons. He is a gamebreaker who is entering his peak and Bryan Murray will not trade such a great player for mediocre or good players that have already reached their potential. Sure he had a bad season, but no GM thinks that is what they should expect from Heatley from now on. Everyone knows Heatley will return to being one of the top scorers in the game.
Of course there are concerns with Heatley, but the only reason there are not more GMs in on the Heatley front has nothing to do with his attitude. It's about cap space. the only teams willing to spend money on Heatley are ones who have the space, of course, and are closer to competing for a Stanley cup. Building teams will not really have much use for Heatley and therefore will not be willing to give up as much as other teams who need that player to get over the top. The teams who have cap space and are in that position are not plentiful; in fact there are probably only a small handful who can make this happen. This is the only reason Murray has not been able to pull off a trade yet. Teams who want in have no space, and teams with space are at a different point in the growth as a franchise. This is not even factoring the fact that something like what happened with Edmonton could happen with another team. Although, I doubt Murray would have been happy on his return from that trade, considering Heatley is by far and away the most skilled player in that group.
Heatley may have issues, but he is still one of the best, most consistent goal-scorers in the league and every GM knows what Heatley can do. He is a top line player on any team, no question.
Murray will take his time with this trade and get a good package in return. Anything less would be a failure, including the supposed deal that was in place with Edmonton. Murray is trying to make it clear that this is not a discount trade just because it was made public Heatley's trade request. Heatley will have to sit tight until Murray can make a deal that works best for the Senators. As for the proposed deal with San Jose, Murray would be smart to insist that Michalek be involved in any package coming back for Heatley. He can step into a top line role and play well. As for the others, well, it will be a mixture of a very solid prospect and a pick, or something along those lines.
Personally, I am surprised that Minnesota hasn't been able to make some moves to be able to make this happen. Heatley would look great on that team and be a star; although, perhaps Heatley has striken them off his list of teams to be traded to. Don't get me wrong, I do not like anything about the way Heatley has gone about this situation, but Bryan Murray will not be undersold with some okay players and mediocre prospects who will not even be in an Ottawa uniform in a year or two, Dany Heatley is worth much more than that.
However, Bryan Murray knows exactly what he wants for Heatley and he's not going to accept a trade where he doesn't get great solid value in return. Forget about Plekanec, or Erhoff, or Vlasic being the main return in any deal involving Heatley. Heatley is by far and above a better player than those by a long shot, even with his supposed attitude problems. Every GM in the league knows what Heatley can do and it is not a risk at all to bring Heatley in, because you can be guarateed he will score you at least 35-50 goals for the next few seasons. He is a gamebreaker who is entering his peak and Bryan Murray will not trade such a great player for mediocre or good players that have already reached their potential. Sure he had a bad season, but no GM thinks that is what they should expect from Heatley from now on. Everyone knows Heatley will return to being one of the top scorers in the game.
Of course there are concerns with Heatley, but the only reason there are not more GMs in on the Heatley front has nothing to do with his attitude. It's about cap space. the only teams willing to spend money on Heatley are ones who have the space, of course, and are closer to competing for a Stanley cup. Building teams will not really have much use for Heatley and therefore will not be willing to give up as much as other teams who need that player to get over the top. The teams who have cap space and are in that position are not plentiful; in fact there are probably only a small handful who can make this happen. This is the only reason Murray has not been able to pull off a trade yet. Teams who want in have no space, and teams with space are at a different point in the growth as a franchise. This is not even factoring the fact that something like what happened with Edmonton could happen with another team. Although, I doubt Murray would have been happy on his return from that trade, considering Heatley is by far and away the most skilled player in that group.
Heatley may have issues, but he is still one of the best, most consistent goal-scorers in the league and every GM knows what Heatley can do. He is a top line player on any team, no question.
Murray will take his time with this trade and get a good package in return. Anything less would be a failure, including the supposed deal that was in place with Edmonton. Murray is trying to make it clear that this is not a discount trade just because it was made public Heatley's trade request. Heatley will have to sit tight until Murray can make a deal that works best for the Senators. As for the proposed deal with San Jose, Murray would be smart to insist that Michalek be involved in any package coming back for Heatley. He can step into a top line role and play well. As for the others, well, it will be a mixture of a very solid prospect and a pick, or something along those lines.
Personally, I am surprised that Minnesota hasn't been able to make some moves to be able to make this happen. Heatley would look great on that team and be a star; although, perhaps Heatley has striken them off his list of teams to be traded to. Don't get me wrong, I do not like anything about the way Heatley has gone about this situation, but Bryan Murray will not be undersold with some okay players and mediocre prospects who will not even be in an Ottawa uniform in a year or two, Dany Heatley is worth much more than that.