Tambellini not happy Heatley trade details went public

[Habs # 1]

The names of the Edmonton Oilers who would have gone in a trade for disgruntled Ottawa Senator Dany Heatley were made public, and Oilers general manager Steve Tambellini isn't happy about it.
The Senators tried to move Heatley to the Oilers before midnight on Wednesday, when the two-time 50-goal scorer was owed a $4 million US bonus.
In return Ottawa would have received forwards Andrew Cogliano and Dustin Penner and defenceman Ladislav Smid, but Heatley killed the trade, refusing to waive his no-movement clause.
Tambellini said Friday that disclosure of the names of the Oilers' players was "not fair to them — I'm not happy about that," and added that he hasn't given up on trying to sign Heatley.

Link http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/stor...ey-oilers.html

[moxie]

Yeah, that's rough for the Oilers' players for sure. They are not only exposed as trade bait, but they are being kicked off a team that is on the ups for a team in the middle of a swan dive. On top of that, Heatley screwed both teams out of Free-Agency.

It is surprising to read some of the stuff that JP Barry is saying about the situation. He represents a lot of players around the league, and deals with many GMs on a day to day. He might be screwing himself over in future deliberations with his other contracts. Some players may even decide to find a new agent. He used to represent Ray Emery. I know that he still represents Alfredsson, Sundin, the Sedins, etc. His mandate here is basically to have Heatley moved for 10 cents on the dollar.

The only way Heatley will be welcomed back into the dressing room is if he donates the $4M he got on July 1 to a local charity like CHEO/Rogers House.

A side note, Chris Neil was taking some nice jabs at Heater in an interview yesterday. I'll try to find the article. It will be good to see Chris wearing Heatley's "A" this year.

[Cat Smasher]

Neilisms...

"It’s definitely shocking any time an elite player wants out of an organization that has bent over backwards for him," Neil said. "He’s a guy who was under contract for a long time and he’s paid very well … but if he doesn’t want to be here, let him go and do his own thing."

[...]

"It’s frustrating to see," he said. "He’s a guy who was well liked in the dressing room, a guy who is going to score 40 to 50 goals for you (each season)."

[...]

"The biggest thing is we were winning at the end of the year and I really think he had an opportunity to score 50 goals again next season. He was scoring more after Clouston came in and I didn’t really see any problems. At one point, the power play wasn’t working; Cory saw that and switched things up. In one game, we got a bunch of goals on the power play (without Heatley), so he stuck with that. You go with what works."

[...]

"You would like to think that if they’re able to move (Heatley), they would be able to get somebody pretty good back," he said.

Fisherisms....

"I still can't believe it," Fisher, one of the Senators' true leaders, said from his Peterborough-area cottage. "It kind of came out of the blue. It shocked everyone. All the players.

"I'm disappointed and surprised and a little upset, for sure."

[...]

"I don't know anything other than what I hear from (other Senators)," said Fisher. "I think everyone on the team knows that it went down, but I don't know any more. I'm hoping there will be something more ... it doesn't seem like Heater to do anything like this."

[...]

"I didn't know it would come to this point," he said. "Everyone knew his ice time was down and he was discouraged. But players have disagreements with coaches all the time ... I never thought it would come to this."

[...]

"When everyone signed (the multi-year deals) it was because they wanted to play here," said Fisher. "That meant under the coach's system. It has to be the No. 1 priority. That's how you be a team. That's what Cory demands. It's what we all have to do to have a better year."

[...]

"Heater has done so much good here," said Fisher. "He's a good guy ... he was a great teammate. This is just so surprising."

[...]

"I don't know everything that's out there," said Fisher, referring to available players and soon-to-be free agents. "It's too hard to say what we can get.

"It's put Bryan in a difficult situation. (No matter who he gets) I think for sure, we'll be missing a guy like that, but somebody's going to be getting those passes from Spetz.

"Obviously, it's going to be hard to replace Heater. But we'll find a way."