One Vote for Heatley - courtesy of Paul Kelly

Finally, some support for Dany Heatley in this mess, coming from the contractually obligated NHLPA Director, Paul Kelly. He gave an interview with Dan Tencer in Edmonton on 630 CHED.

Highlights include:

"I think that this been kind of twisted in a negative way, which is unfortunate for Dany. I think he's just a victim of a bad set of circumstances," said Kelly about Heatley, who requested a trade earlier in the off-season."

"While it is true that he requested a trade, it was not Dany Heatley or his agent that made that fact public. I think Dany's been unfairly treated by the media and by the (Senators) organization."

"It's clear that they didn't have enough of a conversation to clarify where they were at. Unfortunately this thing has taken a bit of a bad twist. We think that Dany has been getting a bit of a raw deal. I think the day will come that he'll have his opportunity to clarify some of these things. Where it will be, nobody really knows."

I'm not going to jump all over this because Kelly has a responsibility to his players to stick up for them. It isn't as if he'd call up Dan Tencer and say that he thinks Heatley is an idiot and wants him out of the player's association. This is textbook talk for a guy that is making sure he doesn't raise any red flags.

I guess we'll see if this interview just floats down the river without much attention, or if the hatred for the Heatley camp is still so deep that fans and media add Paul Kelly to the Axis of Evil.

Full story here