It has been several days since the news came out that Dany Heatley wants a trade out of Ottawa. One of his agents was on the Team 1200 yesterday with Steve Lloyd and Jason York. I actually felt sorry for Stacey McAlpine. While he is obliged to speak publicly for his client because his client clearly doesn’t want to do it himself, you could tell McAlpine wanted to be anywhere else but on the radio trying to explain this without explaining anything.
There was very little he said which would shed more light on the reasons. Yes Dany did have problems with head coach Corey Clouston, to which Clouston himself was more than surprised. McAlpine did say there are more things than just a difference in philosophy with the head coach. We still don’t know exactly what those things are and we may never know.
It may just be that Dany is a super star and didn’t feel like he was being treated like one. Being asked to forecheck, backcheck, skate hard and play defence when his team didn’t have the puck. It doesn’t sound like an outrageous expectation, but who knows maybe Dany sees himself as an offensive star and that defence stuff is someone else’s job. Ice time, Powerplay assignments, possitioning of his locker stall, I don’t really know because camp Heatley really isn’t saying.
It may be a Marian Hossa/Pittsburgh kind of deal. Marian wanted to leave Pittsburgh and sign in Detroit because he wanted to win the cup and believed Detroit had a better chance of winning. At least in that situation he was up front about it. You may not have agreed with what Marian was doing, but you had to respect the fact that he was up front about it.
Maybe Dany perceives serious problems within the organization and just wants to be polite and not make those feelings public. There are still a million maybe’s and we may never know all of his reasons.
I have always had a good relationship with Dany and I like him. I was surprised when I emailed him to get some clarification on his reasons and the response he sent me was simple. Ask JP or Stacey. JP Barry and Stacey McAlpine are his agents. I wrongly assumed that because of the relationship I have had with Dany that he would communicate with me in some way. I was obviously wrong there.
There is an expectation that people like me, Gord Wilson, Dave Schreiber and many others have inside knowledge of everything because we are at the rink each day and try to build relationships, that we know things others don’t. In this case that isn’t true. I don’t know any more than anyone else because Dany won’t talk to me and his agents aren’t saying very much.
At this point after listening to the call in shows on the Team 1200 the last few days, I get the sense the fans don’t really care what the real reasons are. If he doesn’t want to be here, they don’t want him here and the attention has now turned to the return on investment. What can Bryan Murray get for Heatley?
I must say I am impressed at how quickly the fans have dispensed with the scorn and emotion and moved on to the optimism of change. I think in many ways it shows how we have matured as an NHL city.
See you at the rink.
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5 comments:
Dean perhaps I have not matured but I have much scorn for Dany.
Behave like a professional and man up. Acting like an ass and slacking all year, then demanding a trade amount to pansying up to any contractual obligation.
Exactly Anonymous @1:39.
I again heard the "Boo hoo, poor hard done by athlete" shtick by Gord Wilson on the Team 1200 yesterday.
Gimme a break.
Heatley gets paid 8,000,000 a year to push a puck around the ice.
Here's some things that Dreamland Dany probably doesn't have to put up with in his life:
i)Choosing between going to a movie or getting food/bills for the month;
ii)Waiting in line for 8-10 hours just to get an MRI or to be examined by a Doctor;
iii)Worrying about paying the inusrance on his fancy car;
iv)Worrying about affording a lawyer if that's needed.
Spoiled, rich, brat.
Spoiled brats, all of them.
I don't want to hear a single word of complaint out of Spezza, Fisher or anyone else on this team if people pile on them over their performances. They get stressed over it? Drop 20 grand on a shrink and deal.
People are losing their jobs all over, GM is restructuring and we have this overpaid hockey player telling us we're not good enough?
To hell with you Dany.
To hell with any Ottawa or professional athlete that has any complaints about anything.
This may seem like a long, drawn out rant but I lost any sympathy for these guys when they started making 20-40 times my annual salary.
That's not saying I wish anyone of them ill, I like Phillips, Volchenkov etc...but...
Please don't play the poor little rich boy card, it doesn't wash in this quarter.
Nice post, I actually kind of agree with you, but I won't add to what you said.
I just want you to know Dean, that I'm glad you write a blog. It may not seem like people read it, but I hope you keep posting. Your insight is very much appreciated.
Adam
I am sorry this really smells.Danny wants a ntc then requests a trade then picks the team he will go to.I am sorry you can't have everything.I beleave this may lead to changes to the ntc.If you get a ntc then you want a trade you waive ntc so you can't pick and choose.
The Alex Daigle contract was the genesis for the entry level contract in the NHL. I think that the behavior of mercenaries like Heatly's (and Pronger...etc)will also be a topic of discussion next time the CBA gets opened up.
The NHL has guaranteed contracts. No team can suddenly decide to cut a guy and not pay him. So why are players allowed to ask out of a city whenever they feel like it?
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