MNWild: Wild Painted into a Corner by Heatley
I doubt it is a popular conversation in the Wild front office but Heatley is flat out a turnover machine in all three zones. To avoid addressing the obvious is just magnifying the issue. Heatley doesn’t need to watch tape with Yeo or get a pick me up for his attitude being so positive adjusting to playing on the 4th Line. Heatley needs to be put on waivers and dumped in the minors. Besides a diminished skating ability, Heatley can be seen not engaged in the defensive zone choosing instead to coast around the blue line waiting for his line mates to gain possession of the puck. I am very clear as to who I believe Heatley is now and who he has been during his tenure with the Wild. In his first two seasons in Minnesota, I was pleasantly surprised by his play and how he provided such a stable example of a veteran contributor. Heatley should also credit for recruiting Zach parise and Ryan Suter to the Wild from the players side of that equation. When Heatley was injured in San Jose last season not only did he miss out on an opportunity at playing in a playoff series with the Wild but he was almost assured to have played his last time in a Wild sweater. Enter the loophole in the CBA that makes Heatley ineligible to be a compliance buyout because he is still considered an injured player this summer.
The inability to buyout Heatley caused his last season in a Wild sweater to be toxic before the opening faceoff of the season. There is no doubt the Wild planned to buyout Heatley and his $7.5Mil cap hit leaving him financially compensated but out of a job. I still argue that Tom Gilbert would have been the second buyout after Heatley due to him having 2 seasons left on his deal. Instead Gilbert was bought out and Heatley’s best friend on the team Devin Setogucci was flipped to Winnipeg for a 2014 2nd round pick to provide Fletcher with cap flexibility.
Heatley’s play this season can be characterized as a severe lack of productivity and negative or neutral effect on the outcome of the Wild’s first 22 games. Any interest from other NHL teams in possibly taking him on despite his contract now or at the trading deadline has been almost entirely eliminated. What is left for the Wild with Heatley is a delicate tap dance for head coach Mike Yeo and Fletcher when addressing his play and use, while they hope to avoid the looming nuclear confrontation point. Heatley has been a solid citizen here in Minnesota since arriving over 2 years ago in a draft day trade. It is clear his attitude and motivation can be directly tied to the fact that the only reason he is still with the franchise is due to a CBA loophole.
I definitely can acknowledge to a point that Heatley is justified in feeling a certain type of way about an employer that is counting the days until they can rid themselves of your services. In the end though, Heatley is very experienced in the business of hockey as he has leveraged his situation in his previous NHL stops. I have a great appreciation for the public relations damage control Yeo and Fletcher will have to engage in with regard to Heatley for the rest of the year. It is definitely a delicate balance to reinforce whatever good they will have with Heatley while doing what is best for the rest of team which at current has been 4th line minutes with a specialty power play role. Next though on the horizon must be waivers and possibly a demotion to the AHL no matter how much the organization doesn’t want to bury Heatley’s hefty contract in Iowa.
With each game Heatley languishes on the 4th Line, the pressure to find a resolution other than putting him on waivers will mount for Fletcher. Yeo will be tasked with playing good soldier managing both sides of the equation defending Heatley to media as the buffer. Inevitably though the only way this current conundrum solves its self in my opinion would be for Heatley to somehow turn around his season with extra effort in the defensive zone with hitting and to work on his below average skating ability. Heatley has to find his motivation on a game by game basis which just has not been the case this season.
Just Giving My Take, Tony Dean @AWKD