And Monday starts with a BANG.

Well not really but a lot has been shaping up for the Sens already today.

In an interesting twist, today I was told Murray has gone to Heatley's camp with a potential suitor for Heatley and has basically told Heater's camp "this is the team we are working with at the moment and this is where you'll be going if you want out."

Coinciding with this, Sportsnet is also reporting Murray has "spoken" with one Heatley's agents over the past few days.

No word yet on what team it is, but speculation remains that L.A. is the "team to beat".

Murray is quoted as saying he is very close to the deal he wants with a certain team, and that he also has another offer on the table he is "willing" to take if it falls through with the leading team.

Andy Strickland is reporting St.Louis is NOT in on the Heater sweepstakes, and I have yet to hear any actual chatter involving St.Louis, I would rule out St.Louis, based solely on the fact Strickland almost always has the inside track on Blues news.

Calgary isn't going to trade Phanuef for Heatley, plain and simple the trade really doesn't help either cap-strapped teams.

Ek has mentioned the NY Rangers as players in the Heatley sweepstakes, which is extremely odd considering the massive cap problems the Rangers currently have.

And no Ottawa isn't going to take on Gomez or Drury's massive salaries. Or Redden's or Rosival's, so unless the Rangers clear some serious cap, Heatley won't be a Ranger.

With Bryan Murray setting a public deadline for draft day to move Heatley, my "educated" guess is....

L.A. is the frontrunner, working with Murray to get Heatley.
San Jose is most likely the plan B for Murray.

On the other end of the spectrum, we can almost (never say never) completely rule out these teams-

Toronto, Nashville (Very Odd), Montreal, Detroit, Tampa Bay, Calgary, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Boston and Atlanta.
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Today myself....and every other Sens fan should be praying and hoping that TSN's Top prospect rankings are as accurate as they have been in recent years, because if they are we may get to hear Bryan Murray (or Alfie) step and say with the 9th pick in the 2009 entry draft the Ottawa Senators select the Swedish sensation

Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson!

Based on Tsn's survey of 10 NHL scouts, the majority had MPS ranked at 9th (10th on the top prospects list), and our prized Swedish defender OEL ranked 6th. The ole switcheroo.

To go on with the Draft, the Sens 2nd round pick-

With the 39th pick in the 2009 entry draft the Ottawa Senators select...

Dmitri Orlov.

From the ISS -

Orlov is a rushing defender with very good offensive skills. He loves to jump in from blue line to make plays. He has been a workhorse for the Russian national teams consistently playing every second shift for the Russian 91 group, and has been very effective. Orlov, who plays his off side has a strong shot and loves to jump into the zone from the weak side to become a potent scoring threat. He loves to rush the puck up ice and has very good inside out moves to get the puck and himself in deep into the offensive zone. Overall, a very hard-nosed player that everyone would love to have on his team.

If there was ever a year for the Sens to fall apart and pick low, this was a good year to do it.
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Speaking of the Draft and Draft picks -

Christoph Schubert has returned to the rumour mill, this time he has brought Alex Auld with him.

A crazy rumour is making the rounds is Alex Auld to Columbus for Kris Russell. Now if I'm Ottawa, I'm all over this trade however, I'm a little lost as to why Columbus would trade a top 4 NHL PMD for a back-up goalie.

A Kris Russell is a lot harder to come across than an Alex Auld, and Scott Howson is not known for trading young quality players.

But both players being shipped for draft picks wouldn't be a surprise, Ottawa has a long list of players they want in the 2nd round+.

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In another odd twist Murray will be making one more call to Chris Neil to try to get a deal done. Either Murray isn't taking much cap back in the Heatley trade or he is caving to some outside pressure.
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Also guys (and gals) I'll be hosting a draft-day afternoon talkcast for anyone and everyone. So stay tuned for an update with a set time and I'll also be looking to bring in some of the other Hockeybuzz bloggers.

Until then fell free to send your e-mails as usual

Mark Christopher
m_christopher@live.ca

OH! and whoever was posting the Stephen Harper pictures a while ago, where did you go! That was a great tradition you were starting.

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