There were a couple of reports today on the ongoing Dany Heatley soap opera, and for Edmonton fans hoping the talented forward will be dealt here they can be taken either for good or ill. First off, here's Bruce Garrioch, who every so often gets something right (and occasionally gets stuff wrong, too):
The Edmonton Oilers like Dany Heatley.
The feeling may not be mutual.
League sources say the Oilers are one of the two teams that have contacted Senators GM Bryan Murray about the disgruntled Ottawa winger, but the indications are Edmonton might not be at the top of Heatley's list of destinations he'd like to land.
Meanwhile, Allen Panzeri in the Ottawa Citizen agrees that Heatley has a list of preferred teams, but his list is a little different:
While several Eastern Conference teams, in particular the Boston Bruins, were mentioned by agents as a possible landing spot for Heatley, the speculation is that his preferred list includes a group of Western Conference teams, perhaps as many as eight: the San Jose Sharks probably top the list, followed by the Dallas Stars, Los Angeles Kings, Chicago Blackhawks, St. Louis Blues, Edmonton Oilers, Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames.
There's more, though:
But being forced to pick from Heatley's preferred list could, likely would, force Murray to leave the best offer on the table and take an inferior one, simply because it's a team Heatley wants to join....
At any rate, Ottawa's fans better rein in their expectations. It looks as if it's going to be very difficult for Murray to hit a home run on this trade.
So basically the situation boils down to two key components; one very good for Oilers fans, and one that may or may not be good:
- Dany Heatley is going to get traded, and probably for less than fair value to whoever gets him.
- Dany Heatley is probably going to be traded to a team either of his choice or a team off of a list that he's submitted to Murray. Edmonton may or may not be at the top or even on the list.
In any case, the offer I suggested earlier this week (Gilbert, O'Sullivan and Eberle) is probably a bit rich at this point. If Edmonton's not on Heatley's list, it doesn't matter how rich the offer is, and if Edmonton is on Heatley's list than there's likely no need to offer fair value. Bryan Murray simply doesn't have many options; less in fact than Kevin Lowe had with Chris Pronger, and we all saw how that turned out.