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Ottawa Senators Blogger •
A few quotes from around the Sens and J.P.Barry
(Quotes from Sun Media, TSN and Ottawa Citizen)
Eugene Melnyk on Heatley's current status-
“Right now, he’s an Ottawa Senator. We expect him to fulfill his contract as we have ours; he’s coming to training camp. That’s the bottom line.”
“Right now, I don’t think anything is happening at all,” said Melnyk. “We have a situation where we had an offer from Edmonton. Since then, we’ve paid out $4 million in advance of this coming season. I’ve left it in Bryan Murray’s hands."
“We’re kind of in no-man’s land. This is unprecedented. We’re in uncharted waters.”
“How far can you go? I mean you get the Oilers President Kevin Lowe and the GM Steve Tambellini flying out to Kelowna to see him. What’s wrong with Edmonton? The organization is putting itself out. You can’t have your cake and eat it too,”
“I’ve never seen something like this in my life. Somebody says, ‘I want to be traded, but you got me a trade, and I don’t want to be traded there.’ ”
Its clear Melnyk is frustrated by the situation like all of us.
As he has said "at this point he expects Heatley to show up for training camp', so this situation is only going to get worse before it gets better.
Heatley's agent J.P. Barry (the same prick who dragged Mike Gillis to Sweden on the eve of free agency) poured more gasoline on the already raging inferno, that is the Heatley saga.
“I know right now Heatley still isn’t in the position to make a decision about Edmonton. I would hope that the Senators would continue to talk or field inquiries to identify a hockey deal that is as good as or better than what they have received to date for Dany Heatley. That way Dany has options.”
“It was well known that we were all working together to explore options, but it became evident on Tuesday night in my discussions with the Senators that they were not exploring any other options than the Oilers. They were intent on moving forward to consummate a trade with Edmonton.”
“I advised Bryan Murray we were not in a position to agree to a trade with Edmonton,” said Barry. “The very next call I received from Steve Tambellini an hour later saying a trade had been consummated.
“I know Steve Tambellini well and it was a very difficult for me to explain we hadn’t authorized the trade.”
So basically Barry has stated Heatley cannot make a decision in regards to playing for Edmonton until more options appear.
At this point he knows, like we all know, what options there has been and what’s left.
We know the NY Rangers tabled an offer that included Dubie, Zherdev's right and Rosival's fat contract. - Not even close to a reasonable offer for Heatley.
Minnesota has 2 stories attached, Myself, along with others were told Minnesota table a decent offer, but others have been told Minny never officially tabled an offer and just talked names.
L.A. only ever talked, never offered, and appeared very uninterested as we neared July 1st. J.P. Barry seems to think otherwise, but I would echo Ron Hextall's comments again to gauge L.A.'s feelings towards Heatley.
San Jose, like L.A. placed a ton of calls but low-balled Murray big-time and that is basically where they stand at the moment.
That’s it that’s all for teams that show "strong" interest for Heatley.
Not quite what Heatley and Barry had, or even still have in their heads.
There are only 2 positives about this situation for Ottawa at the moment.
- Bryan Murray remains firm that he will only move Heatley if the deal makes sense to Ottawa, and if there is no deal, he has full intention to keep Heatley on the roster. Owner Eugene Melnyk has stated he will back Murray's decision completely.
- Jason Spezza, a player who has received more than his fair share of criticism from myself and other Ottawa media, commented on the situation and sounded like a seasoned veteran with comments-
“If Dany wants to come back, we’re going to accept him and we want him to be a part of our team, if he doesn’t want to be here, it’s important for him to move on and for the organization to be able to make a trade so the team can move on. We just want to win here.”
To me this is a big positive for Ottawa, Spezza and the locker room as at this moment it seems like MAYBE; just MAYBE Alfie's leadership has worn-off on Spezza.
-------------------------------------------------
Ottawa had its Development camp this week, unfortunately I haven't been able to make it down to it, which crushes me, because I absolutely love to watch prospects and see how their developing.
If anyone has attended the event and would like to contribute a summary of the event and the prospects (at least the noticeable) please send me an e-mail @ m_christopher@live.ca and I will post it for everyone else that has missed the camp.
---------------------------------------------------
Reports from with-in Ottawa now have Murray looking to resign Comrie to a short-term contract, since the missed out on Cammy.
Comrie is believed to be contemplating 3 different offers at the moment and will likely decide early next week.
---------------------------------------------------
6'5" Patrick Weircioch has added significant muscle to his frame according to reports. Most have him adding about 20lbs of muscle. Patrick really wants to play in the NHL next season, so it will be very interesting to see what direction Ottawa takes with him.
Erik Karlsson has upped his weight to the 170-175 range, which is with-in striking distance of what Bryan Murray and his training staff wanted Karlsson to hit before training camp.
Early reports from the development camp have Karlsson standing out because of his speed and punk control.
Between the 2 of them, Ottawa may have more defensive depth than we can handle come next season.
----------------------------------------------------
While I'm not a fan of the Chris Neil resigning, I do understand the greater need for him now that Toronto has bulked up. Neil will have to make himself very apparent in rival games this season. He needs to give Orr a very big welcome to Ontario.
I have to admit though, Toronto hasn't really addressed ANY of their organizational needs this off-season, they got bigger, but the literally did nothing to address their lack of scoring.
As for Montreal, what’s there to be said that hasn't been said already? Do they have a top-sic forward over 6'0"?
Oh, Montreal/Toronto fans I realize Ottawa hasn't done anything either, but unlike your teams we're currently handcuffed by a giant cry-baby.
-----------------------------------------------------
Three weeks ago I was defending Heatley, and tried to give him the benefit of the doubt with his trade request and even went to bat for him on the forums here. Boy do I feel like a sucker..........
Mark Christopher
m_christopher@live.ca
(Quotes from Sun Media, TSN and Ottawa Citizen)
Eugene Melnyk on Heatley's current status-
“Right now, he’s an Ottawa Senator. We expect him to fulfill his contract as we have ours; he’s coming to training camp. That’s the bottom line.”
“Right now, I don’t think anything is happening at all,” said Melnyk. “We have a situation where we had an offer from Edmonton. Since then, we’ve paid out $4 million in advance of this coming season. I’ve left it in Bryan Murray’s hands."
“We’re kind of in no-man’s land. This is unprecedented. We’re in uncharted waters.”
“How far can you go? I mean you get the Oilers President Kevin Lowe and the GM Steve Tambellini flying out to Kelowna to see him. What’s wrong with Edmonton? The organization is putting itself out. You can’t have your cake and eat it too,”
“I’ve never seen something like this in my life. Somebody says, ‘I want to be traded, but you got me a trade, and I don’t want to be traded there.’ ”
Its clear Melnyk is frustrated by the situation like all of us.
As he has said "at this point he expects Heatley to show up for training camp', so this situation is only going to get worse before it gets better.
Heatley's agent J.P. Barry (the same prick who dragged Mike Gillis to Sweden on the eve of free agency) poured more gasoline on the already raging inferno, that is the Heatley saga.
“I know right now Heatley still isn’t in the position to make a decision about Edmonton. I would hope that the Senators would continue to talk or field inquiries to identify a hockey deal that is as good as or better than what they have received to date for Dany Heatley. That way Dany has options.”
“It was well known that we were all working together to explore options, but it became evident on Tuesday night in my discussions with the Senators that they were not exploring any other options than the Oilers. They were intent on moving forward to consummate a trade with Edmonton.”
“I advised Bryan Murray we were not in a position to agree to a trade with Edmonton,” said Barry. “The very next call I received from Steve Tambellini an hour later saying a trade had been consummated.
“I know Steve Tambellini well and it was a very difficult for me to explain we hadn’t authorized the trade.”
So basically Barry has stated Heatley cannot make a decision in regards to playing for Edmonton until more options appear.
At this point he knows, like we all know, what options there has been and what’s left.
We know the NY Rangers tabled an offer that included Dubie, Zherdev's right and Rosival's fat contract. - Not even close to a reasonable offer for Heatley.
Minnesota has 2 stories attached, Myself, along with others were told Minnesota table a decent offer, but others have been told Minny never officially tabled an offer and just talked names.
L.A. only ever talked, never offered, and appeared very uninterested as we neared July 1st. J.P. Barry seems to think otherwise, but I would echo Ron Hextall's comments again to gauge L.A.'s feelings towards Heatley.
San Jose, like L.A. placed a ton of calls but low-balled Murray big-time and that is basically where they stand at the moment.
That’s it that’s all for teams that show "strong" interest for Heatley.
Not quite what Heatley and Barry had, or even still have in their heads.
There are only 2 positives about this situation for Ottawa at the moment.
- Bryan Murray remains firm that he will only move Heatley if the deal makes sense to Ottawa, and if there is no deal, he has full intention to keep Heatley on the roster. Owner Eugene Melnyk has stated he will back Murray's decision completely.
- Jason Spezza, a player who has received more than his fair share of criticism from myself and other Ottawa media, commented on the situation and sounded like a seasoned veteran with comments-
“If Dany wants to come back, we’re going to accept him and we want him to be a part of our team, if he doesn’t want to be here, it’s important for him to move on and for the organization to be able to make a trade so the team can move on. We just want to win here.”
To me this is a big positive for Ottawa, Spezza and the locker room as at this moment it seems like MAYBE; just MAYBE Alfie's leadership has worn-off on Spezza.
-------------------------------------------------
Ottawa had its Development camp this week, unfortunately I haven't been able to make it down to it, which crushes me, because I absolutely love to watch prospects and see how their developing.
If anyone has attended the event and would like to contribute a summary of the event and the prospects (at least the noticeable) please send me an e-mail @ m_christopher@live.ca and I will post it for everyone else that has missed the camp.
---------------------------------------------------
Reports from with-in Ottawa now have Murray looking to resign Comrie to a short-term contract, since the missed out on Cammy.
Comrie is believed to be contemplating 3 different offers at the moment and will likely decide early next week.
---------------------------------------------------
6'5" Patrick Weircioch has added significant muscle to his frame according to reports. Most have him adding about 20lbs of muscle. Patrick really wants to play in the NHL next season, so it will be very interesting to see what direction Ottawa takes with him.
Erik Karlsson has upped his weight to the 170-175 range, which is with-in striking distance of what Bryan Murray and his training staff wanted Karlsson to hit before training camp.
Early reports from the development camp have Karlsson standing out because of his speed and punk control.
Between the 2 of them, Ottawa may have more defensive depth than we can handle come next season.
----------------------------------------------------
While I'm not a fan of the Chris Neil resigning, I do understand the greater need for him now that Toronto has bulked up. Neil will have to make himself very apparent in rival games this season. He needs to give Orr a very big welcome to Ontario.
I have to admit though, Toronto hasn't really addressed ANY of their organizational needs this off-season, they got bigger, but the literally did nothing to address their lack of scoring.
As for Montreal, what’s there to be said that hasn't been said already? Do they have a top-sic forward over 6'0"?
Oh, Montreal/Toronto fans I realize Ottawa hasn't done anything either, but unlike your teams we're currently handcuffed by a giant cry-baby.
-----------------------------------------------------
Three weeks ago I was defending Heatley, and tried to give him the benefit of the doubt with his trade request and even went to bat for him on the forums here. Boy do I feel like a sucker..........
Mark Christopher
m_christopher@live.ca
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