While the draft is usually the official kick off to the summer transaction bonanza, this year it served as a dud. Outside of the Philadelphia Flyers going for broke after Chris Pronger, the 2009 Draft was all about, well, the draft. Unless you count Kyle Brodziak for picks as a blockbuster, the real opener for deals was July 1st, the time when every General Manager leaves his brains at home and gets the keys to the owners' vault. Of course, depending on the man running the team, this can be a good day or a real head scratcher.
The most obvious thing about – as TSN calls it during their ten hour broadcast – the Free Agent Frenzy, is that bargains don't exist. How else do you explain the deals that perennial overvaluation expert Glen Sather hands out? Teams desperate to get back to contention throw the keys to the organization at good but not always great players and teams at the top look to add pieces to keep them there while knowing other players are likely to walk away for greener financial pastures due to salary cap restrictions. It's a time of bedlam, with the odd blockbuster trade mixed in too.
This July 1 was no different. However, before we even got to the official opening of the floodgates, we were bombarded with the debate about what a couple of creepy twins (I'm no expert in translation and thanks to Brian Burke I know Sedin is not Swedish for "hook or hold me or punch me in the face in a scrum," but rather "figuratively conjoined") and the annual Scott Niedermayer "will he or won't he return" story. But all that pales in comparison to the absolute botch job of agents J.P. Barry and Stacey McAlpine in handling Dany Heatley's trade request.
Heatley of course started this mess by asking out of an organization that not only helped him significantly during his worst time by acquiring him from Atlanta; they also gave him a very player-friendly long-term contract complete with no-trade clause. Heatley's job is to play hockey to the best of his abilities and collect a king's ransom to do it. His agents' job is to secure the best deal for him, and professionally handle trade requests and limit public relations disasters. This is where they fail and fail miserably. While the request became public during the playoffs was a terrible idea, it is nothing compared to the mess when the Oiler trade was presented.
J.P. Barry, who was in Sweden with the Sedin twins on one of the busiest days of the NHL calendar, openly states that the Senators didn't work hard enough to make Dany Heatley happy. They didn't take Barry's advice on how to make trades. He even goes as far as saying that the Senators had other offers out there that were better than a three-young-roster-players-for-one deal.
"Bryan insists that he never really had any other options, which I completely disagree with," Barry told ESPN.com on Thursday from Stockholm. "I believe there were several potential options. I think it was clearly their intent to trade him to Edmonton and only Edmonton. That was the approach they took.
"I specifically told him two days ago, long before the trade happened, 'Do not trade him to Edmonton until you have other options.' And he turned around and consummated the trade despite my request. The result of which is that I get a phone call from a guy that I really respect in Steve Tambellini, who was excited, and I had to inform him what happened.
"I think it was completely mishandled by [Murray]. It was a pressure tactic. He loaded up the gun and put the gun against our heads."
Instead of helping create a solution that helps everyone involved and limits the damage to Heatley's already tattered reputation, J.P. Barry essentially throws gasoline on the fire by telling the Senators how to do their business.
The team, on the other hand, accepted a list of teams that Heatley would accept a trade to and while Edmonton was not on it; Darren Millard mentioned that, when asked if he would accept Edmonton, Heatley said he would consider it.
On top of that, the Heatley camp seems convinced that the Senators are making this harder than it has to be by only dealing with one team, despite their requests and obvious disregard for the realities of the National Hockey League salary cap era.
"We advised Bryan continually that Dany requires more than one option [team] to make a decision and, as of last night, we still only had one option, so he still wasn't able to make a decision, given that there still was only one option in front of him," Barry said.
So, where does J.P. Barry figure the better deals are?
Barry said the New York Rangers, a team that was on Heatley's list of desired destinations, had a good offer on the table.
"Based on my understanding of the discussions that took place with the Rangers, the options the Rangers provided were every bit as good, or better, than the options provided by Edmonton," Barry said. "But I'm sure Bryan has a different opinion of that."
However, the Rangers signed another player with significant baggage to a five-year, $7.5 million per contract in the oft injured Marian Gaborik and their offer involves massively overpaid Michal Roszival (another Sather contract gem at a $5 million annual ticket) and Nikolai Zherdev, who has a lot of tools but a reputation for disappearing for long stretches. Not exactly a huge return for one of the league's most consistent goal scorers.
If he figures that teams are lining up for Heatley and prepared to offer a bounty for him, he's dreaming at this point. Even the L.A. Kings – who desperately want to make a splash with a marquee player in the second biggest market in the United States, have a major need for a top line left winger and have money to spend are leery of the guy. Kings assistant GM Ron Hextall sums up the Heatley baggage as why they aren't actively pursuing him.
"If you look at this player's past ... I'm going to spell it out to you as nicely I can," began Hextall, "He was in Atlanta, had an unfortunate (automobile) accident there and asked to be traded. OK, given the circumstances -- there was a young man killed -- I can live with that.
"He goes to Ottawa, he's on a pretty good team, they go to the finals, signs a big contract…Bang, all of the sudden now he's got to be traded again. ' Not only do I have to be traded, I have a no-trade clause. I want to pick where I'm going to go.' Well, there are some issues there.
"He had problems with his coach in Atlanta," Hextall continued. "My understanding is he had problems with Craig Hartsburg at the start of last year in Ottawa, and he had problems with…Cory Clouston. Three coaches, he's had a problem with.
"That raises huge red flags for us."
Not exactly a glowing endorsement for a player with Heatley's skill. And for a guy with a history of problems with coaches, it's odd he'd want to play for Kings head coach Terry Murray - whose brother Bryan is the Senators' GM.
The damage to Heatley's reputation is extensive and in my eyes Heatley should consider switching agents to try to save himself from further tarnish. His bad decisions combined with poor advice makes a player who should be highly sought after a toxic asset. While it may be easy to hide from the spotlight all summer in Kelowna, continuing with this approach is likely to lead him farther and farther away from his aspirations of New York City or California…and likely back to Ottawa.
Of course, there is one easy solution in all of this for the league and Players' Association to consider: a rule to discourage these requests. Something along the lines that players with no-movement clauses who request trades forfeit control over where they end up. After all, players earn the right for a no-trade specifically not to leave that city and team. After all, if a players want to choose where they go, they should wait for unrestricted free agency. There's even a day designated for it.
Sources:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/
1 comment:
The most shameless thing about the whole Heatly saga is that he chose to miss his good friend, Jason Spezzas wedding. He missed ducked one of the most important days for one of his friends because he didn't want to face A.)Spezza himself or B.) Any questions pointed at him by friends family etc. Shows a complete lack of character.
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