Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Heatley Non-Update - 7:36pm

Okay, get your pencils out:
1. Edmonton has kept the offer on the table for Heatley, even though he's essentially given them a bigger F-U than he is to Ottawa. They are awaiting his response and golly gee they hope he says yes.
2. Ottawa is pressuring Heatley and company to take the Edmonton deal as it is the ONLY deal good enough for Ottawa. This is Murray's angle and he's saying it is Edmonton or Ottawa, pick where you're hated less right now.
3. Heatley's agents continue to try and negotiate with the Rags and the Wild behind the scenes as they both offer a better living situation for their client. If they can coax the GM's to give a better off to Murray than what he's getting from Edmonton, then it goes. So far, neither the Rags or the Wild have budged.
4. But what if both the Wild and Rangers are courting Havlat and are waiting for his decision? The loser of the Havlat sweeps comes back to Murray for Heatley, right? But now you're dependent on Havlat making a decision before midnight.
5. If Havlat doesn't make his decision today, then Murray's asking price for Heatley goes up because we've just cut him a cheque for $4M. So in a sense, Slats and Fletcher are kinda pressuring Boots Havlat to sign tonight so they'll know whether or not they need to make the Heatley trade as a consolation.
6. So as it stands, it is almost as if the interested teams (save Edmonton) are pursuing other UFA options for scoring since it costs them cash only. Once the elite scorers go, Heatley's camp assumes he'll be in greater demand, thus giving him more options than what he's faced with now.

Looks like another night of watching the web past midnight to see what trickles in. In the meantime, here's a quick roundup:
- Toronto gets tougher with Komisarek and Exelby (face it, Orr won't even dress)
- Montreal spends a fortune on Gomez, Cammalleri ($6M?), Spacek, and Gill
- Ottawa reaffirms that their highest paid player is a genuine assbag.

1 comment:

Master Of Puppets said...

Rags sign Gabby. Havlat remains - so LA (who were rumoured to be after him or Gabby) and the Wild are left. And if Edm were to sign Havlat, remove the offer for Heater, we're back to LA again and maybe the Wild as you suggest. Rags are out for sure now.

This assumes there is no-one out there wanting to shake up their roster and add a scorer (SJ, Dallas etc)

Tomorrow could be interesting. Or maybe Heatley will be a Sen for 5 more years. Wow He's really painted a target on himself for ridicule ...