Perhaps, despite all the furor and moronic name-calling (by over reactive writers like Don Brennan), Dany Heatley has actually done Ottawa a favour here by rejecting this terrible trade with Edmonton.
Much like everyone is snickering over how Glen Sather fleeced Montreal's Bob Gainey by unloading the Gomez contract while getting the likes of Chris Higgins and Ryan McDonagh back in the deal, there would be a few hidden smirks with the idea of Murray getting Dustin Penner back from Edmonton.
Penner has been a colossal flop in the City Of Champions and is believed to be out of shape and mentally soft. His size is certainly appealing but Murray would be better off by signing Erik Cole on the market today without having to give up a 50 goal scorer for Penner. That's not to say the player that Murray drafted can't turn his career around, but do you really need to take that chance right now, with the franchise defining trade of Dany Heatley?
The other players in the deal are bonafide prospects, but no one is predicting them to be in the elite category. Cogliano could score 30 goals one day but he is small. Smid is an interesting player who will still get better but he would have already been on his third team if the deal had gone through. He's at best, a second pairing defensive defenseman.
I'm not saying it would have been the worst deal possible, but Murray should be getting something better than Penner in the Heatley deal, no matter the trying and exhausting circumstances.
The real tragedy of the day will be when Chris Neil signs in Toronto, paving the way for the Senators to become one of the softest teams in the league.
With the other bruisers that Burke is inevitably going to sign, Neil and company are going to come into Ottawa's rink and kick the living shit out of them 3 times a year, and do much the same in their own building.
To let a heart and soul player like Neil who actually wants to be in Ottawa, possibly go to your biggest rival down the highway simply because you're squabbling over a couple hundred thousand, is completely unforgivable in this humble scribe's opinion.
The descent into mediocrity continues in the nations capital......
***
Two separate pieces today by Don Brennan of the Sun and Hugh Adami of the Citizen are so over the top in their feigned outrage that they make fools of themselves, rather than make any reasoned arguments why we should be calling another human being "despicable".
Adami even goes the route of interviewing Dan Snyder's father, a crass and exploitative tactic which is simply a chicken shit way of invoking the tragic car accident as a viable tool for a personal attack on the 28 year old without doing it in a direct manner.
The Adami article makes me want to puke.
Small town, small-minded journalism at its worst.
12 comments:
Had the Heatley trade gone down, Neil would be signed. Both sides are waiting to see what happens there before he can be signed. If Heatley stays, they can't afford Neil because they need a top 6 and have only $5M to work with.
The deal wasn't AWESOME, but at least it would have put this all behind us and given us something to work with.
What an unbelievably selfish player.
To let a heart and soul player like Neil who actually wants to be in Ottawa, possibly go to your biggest rival down the highway simply because you're squabbling over a couple hundred thousand, is completely unforgivable in this humble scribe's opinion.
Look Milks, I loved Neil's play 2 years ago as well. We all did. But you're living in the past man. If reports are to be believed, he rejected a plum offer from the Sens to stay long term on a decent raise. His production has plummeted, and he now takes more penalties than he draws. Let him go. I know you're not crazy about Cody Bass, but what about Zach Smith? I'd say he's ready, willing and able to play Neil's role. So are many players that are now more affordable UFAs.
Jeremy, I'm with you 100%. I could not have said it better myself.
Penner has one of the worst contracts in the league. Heatley saved Murray from himself.
If we're not going to get consistently good players in return, I'd rather have draft picks. Pronger yielded a few first rounders.
What is it with Murray's obsession with bringing in his former draft picks and signings. It's either that or the player has to be a local boy. Can someone tell him that there is a larger pool of players out there.
I've lived in Ottawa my whole life, and I have say that Adami's article was an embarassment. I cannot believe that they put it on the front page. It just oozes immaturity. Bringing Snyder into the discussion is so classless. You got it right, it was exploitative.
I would not have believed that article made it into the Citizen without seeing it myself. I've lost a lot of respect for the Citizen. As for the Sun, Don Brennan has once again lived up to expectations.
As far as the big picture goes, this team is going down.
Jeremy:
Wait till chris goes to Montreal and "Georges" thinks he makes too much money and breaks him in quarters starting at his bad knee.
He's done here let him go!
Bryan will make his bones with me depending on how much bad money we have to eat in this deal with Rangers.
Penner wasn't drafted, but thanks for coming out buddy...
I stopped reading your article after that point. Because if you're seriously that ill informed, your opinion means shit.
I agree with Dylan... What is up with you and Neil... Shit.. You want to give freaking 2 mil per season for 10 pts a year... And that Heatley trade was going to be a good one for the Sens, 3 players for a whinny bitch... Thats great!!! Man... Give me a break, you use to write good stuff, I guess you stop watching hockey for year. I'll go read the 6 sens blog instead... His more accurate than you....
Dylan,
Penner was a Murray college free agent signing. I think the point was that Murray recruited him into the league, kinda like a draft pick.
Now go and pour yourself a new bowl of Corn Flakes, because it looks like someone pissed in the one you're eating out of.
Hey Dylan and the fuck who agreed with you...guess what? Neil signed for 2 million per season for 4 years...hmmmm....maybe Jeremy DOES know what he is talking about. So both of you FUCK OFF
No offence intended here, but Penner isn't useless. He's the same player type as Heatley, a complimentary scorer that will rack up 30+ goals with good linemates (ala Spezza or Alfredsson). Heatley, however, is a bonafide elite complementary player who'll get you 50 goals =). Both are overpayed; Penner is a much better all around player though.
That said I'd be very happy with the Oilers shedding Penner's contract.
Cogliano is a 2nd year player who's basically put up just shy of 20 goals for each of his first two seasons, with high shot conversion percentage, while playing 3rd line minutes i.e. no powerplay time. He also has blazing speed and the scary part is he will only get better.
Smid is a defenseman that's had 3 years of NHL development put into him. He's big, gritty, and a good skater and passer. He's likely the only one you pegged correctly, a potential good to very good 2nd pair defensive D-man, but with the ability to skate and to make passes out of the zone instead of just rimming it around the boards all the time.
So what you get here in this trade if Heatley approved it is, a 30 goal complimentary player, a 20 goal winger (he shouldn't be a centre at this point) on the 3rd line (more if he's moved up and as he develops, 30 goal man is very reasonable projections) and a good, cheap, young D-man without all the growing pains for the 2nd pairing.
Net loss is a 50 goal floater. Net gain one very good young 20 goal speedster (that tries to play defense and is learning), one good young player (3rd pairing D-man), and one 30 goal complimentary player. Same goals scored. More useful bodies. Less money overall. Savings of 3 years on the bad contract (Penner's vs. Heatley's).
That's a hands down win for Ottawa. What Heatley did yesterday was a huge favour to the Oilers. All of the Oilers blogs are mentioning a dodged bullet yesterday. No one wants Heatley with a crippling 5 years at 7.5 million especially with his attitude issues. For that money you want a complete player ala Hossa or Havlat, hell even Gaborik with his injury questions as well. Toss in the fact that you have to lose a great deal of depth and all the years of NHL development in two good young players and well...this is a horrible deal for Edmonton.
All Oilers fans that have a basic grasp of the game are praying that they forget about Heatley and let some other team be the suckers this time round. Murray very neary pulled a lesser version of the Yashin debacle with this trade.
If any Ottawa fan thinks Heatley saying no was a good thing for them doesn't really know the situation very well.
No offense Jeremy, but Adami is playing softball. If this had been Montreal or Toronto, the articles would have been far worse and far more personal.
I love what Adami did and I hope the local media bury their pens deep in Heatley's back for the rest of his stay here in Ottawa.
I'll be booing Heatley non-stop in his games here in Ottawa and I hope others do the same.
If Heatley, who somehow now has managed to screw over 2 teams through this already, doesn't want people to make personal attacks, he should:
1) Step to the plate instead of having his Mom's neighbour say nice things about him
2) Grow the fuck up already and start acting like a pro.
3) Quit leaking nasty shit about coaches, managers, team, cities, and whatever else pisses him off today.
4) Waive his NMC.
We don't want you here anymore Dany. Not in Ottawa, not in Canada, not in the NHL. Go away. And write a book about how bad one kid millionaire on skates who can't act like an adult can be for the game that some of us love.
I like Neil too, but $2M AND a 4-year term is way over the top for what he brings to the team. You can't pay guys that kind of dough to play on the third or fourth line, especially when they don't play special teams. Murray should've let him walk for that money. You can find guys like that far cheaper.
Heatley's gotten bad advice from the moment he decided he wanted out. Things haven't improved.
I didn't like Adami's article either, but there's no question he'd be getting it worse in any of the other Canadian cities. At least the media's targeting someone that wants out instead of one of our young stars that wants to be here (see Spezza, Jason).
I'm underwhelmed by the trade proposal as well. Even if Heatley's a bitch, looking at the Pronger deal, I was expecting more. If Edmonton added Eberle, I would be happy.
- Jalen
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