San Jose (finally) wins Heatley trade

As Andy noted in the comments of the UFA thread, it is being reported that Dirtbag Heatley has been traded to the Minnesota Wild for Martin Havlat.

This feels like a dirty love-triangle in a crummy US soap opera.  

Heatley demanded a trade out of Ottawa as we all know.  He exercised his NMC to avoid a solid trade to Edmonton.  It was said he really wanted to go to San Jose and didn't really intend to permit a trade to the Rangers, the other suitor (too much attention in NY, one would think).  In exchange, the Senators took on Jonathan Cheechoo who is pretty much done in the NHL and Milan Michalek and a second round pick which became - via trade - Andy Sutton (now with Edmonton).

Michalek has shown flashes of offensive brilliance, actually backchecks, and takes a smaller pay than Heatley did (we're still awaiting the greivance on Douchebag's $4M July 1 payout).  When traded to Ottawa, he made a call to fellow Czech NHLer Martin Havlat whom, it was reported, had nothing but good things to say of Ottawa and was excited for his countryman.   Havlat, of course, was one of the favourites in Ottawa having been drafted 26th by the Senators.  What's a little crazy is that the Wild just drafted a Stephen Michalek (unlikley to be related but that would be intriguing)

And so it is now with great irony that Heatley has waived his NMC to move to Minnesota in exchange for Havlat didn't include Minnesota on his 10 'no trade' teams in his modified NMC.  Minnesotia may be an even smaller market than San Jose and perhaps even less 'exciting' than Edmonton as midwest cities go.  Perhaps Heatley liked the fact that Minnesota rotated its Captaincy so he'd have a chance to wear the C.  Well, too bad that ended three years ago and it's unlikely Mikko Koivu will give up that role to the biggest dick in the NHL.

So Heatley now goes from a team that took him to the SCF but deteriorated to miss the playoffs, to a team that was Cup bound but couldn't crack the Finals to a team that hasn't made the playoffs in three years.  Sure, that doesn't sound like a long time to Leaf fans, but they're special and to a real hockey fans, 3 years is a long time.

Well, one more Fuck you to Dany Heatly and I'll be happy to cheer on San Jose in the Final next year after they cruch Vancouver in an earlier round.

Update of intrigue!  Ottawa's home opener is against Minnesota.  This will be a fun night.  However, it will be made even more fun based on the fact that the AHL farm teams for the Senators and the Wild just finished battling for the Calder Cup.  With the big clubs likely to have several players called up or make the NHL squad, it could be an interesting 'rematch'.  Might we have a rather obscure rivalry on the go?