Ottawa Senators Season Post-Mortem - Part 1 - The Heatley Saga

What a long, strange season it’s been…

The Ottawa Senators 2009/10 campaign came to a sudden halt on Saturday night when Pascal Dupuis whipped a one-timer past Pascale Leclaire at 10:04 of OT, giving the defending champion Penguins a six game series win over a scrappy and undermanned Senators squad.

The season story began to take form in auspicious fashion during the off-season with star winger Dany Heatley’s demand to be traded. The circumstances that motivated his request remain a mystery, but the fact that the demand was made public coupled with Heatley’s no trade clause left Sens GM Bryan Murray in a completely untenable position in seeking an equitable return for Heatley.

Murray’s objective was to move Heatley by the time the free agency signing period opened on July 1st, ideally at the entry draft in June. His reasoning was twofold. Firstly, it would allow him to immediately pursue a replacement when free agency opened and, secondly, Heatley was due a $4M advance on his 09/10 salary at midnight on July 1st. There was much speculation that Heatley would be traded on draft day, but it wasn’t to be. As the clock struck noon on July 1st and the free agent frenzy began, Heatley remained a Sen while other teams snapped up the prized FA’s.

As the day wore on, word broke that the Sens had a deal in place with the Oilers. The trade, announced by several media outlets (complete with player names), was pending Heatley’s approval. At literally the 11th hour, he decided to sleep on it, stating that it wouldn’t be fair for his new team to absorb the $4M “bonus” he was owed from the Senators. So from that point on, the Senators were on the hook for half of his salary for the coming season.

Of course, Heatley never did waive his NTC for Edmonton. Bryan Murray was informed that the expectation had been that Heatley would be offered several options and would choose the one that suited him best. Rumours ran rampant over the course of the summer, but Heatley remained a Sen. With the free agent pool thinned considerably, Murray and owner Eugene Melnyk finally entered the fray, inking uber skilled but enigmatic Russian winger Alex Kovalev to a two year $10M deal. In the meantime, Heatley had become persona non grata not only in Ottawa, but with fanbases throughout the NHL. The heavy handed tactics of he and his agents culminated in Heatley being booed at the Team Canada Olympic orientation camp held in his hometown of Calgary in August.

With the off-season drawing to a close, and still no deal in place, Heatley was obligated to report to training camp in Sept. It proved to be a short-lived stay. Following a heated meeting with Bryan Murray, Heatley was shipped to the San Jose Sharks the next day in exchange for forwards Milan Michalek, Jonathan Cheechoo, and a 2nd round draft pick. It was far from the return that Sens fans had dreamed of all summer, but the team was finally in a position to structure its roster for the long season that lay ahead.