Penguins/NHL
It has been nearly 2½ months since it became public knowledge that Senators forward Dany Heatley wanted out of Ottawa.
Despite the club’s best efforts to deal him, a trade is not close according to Pierre LeBrun of ESPN.com
“There’s still nothing happening,” Ottawa Senators GM Bryan Murray told ESPN.com. “I wish I had something new to say, but there’s really nothing.”
With training camps to open in less than 4 weeks, Dany Heatley may be forced to start the season in Ottawa.
Murray told ESPN.com that he will continue to seek a trade but to this point, there hasn’t been an offer worthwhile for the Senators.
“I plan to continue to talk to teams, but I think fairly soon we’re going to have to make that call,” Murray said. “Maybe we have a call with [agents] J.P. [Barry] and Stacey [McAlpine] and tell them what’s out there and that it’s not happening and inform Dany that, unfortunately, there’s no option for him right now.
“I continue to talk to people, but nobody has come up with any real offer that is worthwhile for me.”
In fact, Bryan Murray is believed to have been exploring trades for Dany Heatley since February, when Heatley approached management that he wanted out.
The Senators held talks with a few teams including the Penguins prior to last years trade deadline but teams that Heatley was willing to join did not have the cap space to absorb his contract.
The issue this summer has been Heatley’s NTC. Heatley denied a trade to Edmonton and the Senators had a deal in place with the Minnesota Wild prior to July 1 but Bryan Murray pulled back the offer when he got word that Heatley didn’t have much interest in going to Minnesota.
The Rangers and Sharks expressed significant interest but have not been able to meet Bryan Murray’s demands.
A league insider tells me one team that makes sense for Heatley is the Colorado Avalanche but it’s never going happen.
Avalanche GM Greg Sherman can’t even get the OK from ownership to pursue Bruins winger Phil Kessel in a trade due to financial concerns throughout the organization.
Try getting ownership to sign off on adding $37.5 million to the books over 5 years.
Heatley does make sense from the standpoint that Colorado Avalanche has two corner stones down the middle in Paul Stastny and Matt Duchene but lack a 40-50 goal scorer on their wing.
The Avalanche also have the personnel that could make a deal worthwhile for the Senators.
The Avalanche are actively shopping defenseman Scott Hannan along with John Michael Liles. Hannan could be a player of interest for the Senators as the Senators were a finalist for Hannan during the summer of 2007.
They also have a promising young forward in Wojtek Wolski who the team is willing to move. Wolski could be a corner stone of any deal for Heatley. Throw in some draft picks and a prospect, and you have a deal that makes sense for both sides.
While Colorado is a pipe dream due to financial concerns, there continues to be talk that Bryan Murray is interested in dealing with Minnesota.
Chuck Fletcher is very close to Murray and has made it known he willing to go back to the negotiating table.
Remains to be seen whether Heatley would reconsider going to Minnesota. Unlike Edmonton which has moved on, Fletcher is still interested.
