Looking Back at the Heatley Trade

Polansky

Registered User
Apr 5, 2007
547
37
I read on here that the Heatley trade was a terrible trade (one of the worst in history) by a bandwagoner this week. I wanted to put some perspective into that trade.

Value for Ottawa
PlayerYearsGamesGoalsPointsSalary
Jonathon Cheechoo2009 - 201061514$3.5M
Milan Michalek2009 - 2016412115224$29M
Andy Sutton2009 - 20101811$0.8M
[TBODY] [/TBODY]
Value for SJ
PlayerYearsGamesGoalsPointsSalary
Dany Heatley2009 - 201116265146$16M
Isaac MacLeod2010 - 20150000
Martin Havlat2011 - 20141272767$15M
[TBODY] [/TBODY]
Overall Value
TeamGamesGoalsPointsSalary
Ottawa491121239$33.3M
San Jose28992213$31M
[TBODY] [/TBODY]
In summary, Ottawa got more games, goals and points for only marginally more salary out of the trade. Hard to paint this trade as one of the worst in franchise history.
 
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Langdon Alger

Registered User
Apr 19, 2006
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Heatley only last two years in San Jose, and didn’t help them reach the finals. It’s too bad we had to take Cheechoo, but Michalek helped us.

To be honest, the offer from Edmonton never blew me away.
 

Boud

Registered User
Dec 27, 2011
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The Heatley trade wasn't bad in retrospect, but back then it surely was an underwhelming return. If that's what was meant then yes, but looking back at the trade today and it really wasn't bad.
 

Polansky

Registered User
Apr 5, 2007
547
37
The Heatley trade wasn't bad in retrospect, but back then it surely was an underwhelming return. If that's what was meant then yes, but looking back at the trade today and it really wasn't bad.
But shouldn't we look back on trades after time has past, and not the day after?
 
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aragorn

Do The Right Thing
Aug 8, 2004
28,471
8,999
That trade was the result of the coach at the time who was another stubborn SOB. Too bad, Heatley was great for this franchise but it seems that we moved him at the right time as he started going downhill after that trade. Michalek was a good guy & good player for Ottawa too.
 

BonHoonLayneCornell

Registered User
Oct 16, 2006
15,229
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Yukon
Maybe Murray should have played hardball but what do you do. He demanded a trade but wouldnt waive his ntc. He f***ed us and he knew it but ironically he was a plug falling off a cliff shortly after.
 

Boud

Registered User
Dec 27, 2011
13,562
6,984
But shouldn't we look back on trades time has past, and not the day after?

Well, a trade is made on a certain date relative to the value of the players on a certain date. For example when you trade a player for a draft pick, you trade for a draft pick (probability of getting a good NHL player down the road) and not the drafted player because you don't know who'll get drafted with that pick. Then there are many other variants that come into play like scouting staff and development.

You can't really evaluate a trade in retrospect only.

For example what if Taylor Hall suddenly becomes a bad player next season? Will the Oilers have won the deal in retrospect? No, not at all because the value of Hall was much higher than Larsson when the deal was made. This is an unrealistic example but you get the point.

If you make a trade for draft picks and those draft picks turn out great then it seems like you've won the trade, if those draft picks turn out bad then you lost the trade but that actually has nothing to do with the trade ... It has to do with all sorts of other things. The value is in the draft picks, what you do with them and what they turn out to be after depends on many variables not related to the trade itself.
 
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Langdon Alger

Registered User
Apr 19, 2006
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It sucks to have to take a bad contract back when you’re giving up the best player in the deal, but that’s what happened.
 

coladin

Registered User
Sep 18, 2009
11,781
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Always felt they rushed it. They should have let it play out a little longer and see if they could have got more.
 

Langdon Alger

Registered User
Apr 19, 2006
24,777
12,912
Always felt they rushed it. They should have let it play out a little longer and see if they could have got more.

Rushed it? They didn’t deal him until the first day of camp. You think they should have just made him play until they got a great deal? What if he got hurt? What if teams interested played well and decided they didn’t want him? Also, it’s such a distraction to have a guy around who doesn’t want to be here.

Heatley held all the cards with his NTC. I don’t know this for sure, but I think he wanted San Jose all along, meaning he wouldn’t waive unless he got to go there. Even if I’m wrong, he probably had a short list of teams he would be willing to go to. He f***ed us over big time. I don’t care that it’s been almost a decade. He’s a piece of shit.
 

Rhaegar Targaryen

Registered User
Jun 25, 2016
6,375
4,203
Not the best return, and not the worst. Heatley significantly lowered his value when he requested a trade and played his NTC. In hindsight, it was good to get out of that contract. He earned it the next year, was borderline the year after and overpaid the rest of the way.

Maybe Murray should have played hardball but what do you do. He demanded a trade but wouldnt waive his ntc. He ****ed us and he knew it but ironically he was a plug falling off a cliff shortly after.

I remember Murray saying he saw Heatley at training camp and in the dressing room during the first day and realized he needed to move him. Murray’s a smart guy, he knew what was best for the team.
 

Icelevel

During these difficult times...
Sep 9, 2009
24,646
4,905
I read on here that the Heatley trade was a terrible trade (one of the worst in history) by a bandwagoner this week. I wanted to put some perspective into that trade.

Value for Ottawa
PlayerYearsGamesGoalsPointsSalary
Jonathon Cheechoo2009 - 201061514$3.5M
Milan Michalek2009 - 2016412115224$29M
Andy Sutton2009 - 20101811$0.8M
[TBODY] [/TBODY]
Value for SJ
PlayerYearsGamesGoalsPointsSalary
Dany Heatley2009 - 201116265146$16M
Isaac MacLeod2010 - 20150000
Martin Havlat2011 - 20141272767$15M
[TBODY] [/TBODY]
Overall Value
TeamGamesGoalsPointsSalary
Ottawa491121239$33.3M
San Jose28992213$31M
[TBODY] [/TBODY]
In summary, Ottawa got more games, goals and points for only marginally more salary out of the trade. Hard to paint this trade as one of the worst in franchise history.
Yeah that's not how you do it. Michalek sucked outside of the one year plus stretches. Heatley out scored him every year. Would have been our top scorer even though as people say he started to go "downhill".
Heatley and spezza were the best duo we've ever had. Dominant. Michalek was never a part of anything like that.
More games with an underperformer is not a bonus.
More goals in over 200 more games? I would hope so

He asked for a trade so ok trade him. But not for anything less than his value(a top scorer in the league).

Another terrible trade by Ottawa.
 
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Polansky

Registered User
Apr 5, 2007
547
37
Yeah that's not how you do it. Michalek sucked outside of the one year plus stretches. Heatley out scored him every year. Would have been our top scorer even though as people say he started to go "downhill".
Heatley and spezza were the best duo we've ever had. Dominant. Michalek was never a part of anything like that.
More games with an underperformer is not a bonus.
More goals in over 200 more games? I would hope so

He asked for a trade so ok trade him. But not for anything less than his value(a to scorer in the league).

Another terrible trade by Ottawa.
It is interesting how archaic the views are on this board. In the salary cap era, the only important thing is production per dollar.
 

thinkwild

Veni Vidi Toga
Jul 29, 2003
10,815
1,468
Ottawa
It seemed worse that it was probably partially because many of us at the time were still thinking of Heatley as a superstar who should have garnered a superstar return. And i remember many fans wanting Michalek as a return too. I guess HF Sens Fan pro scouting not much better than the Sens. Both Heatley and Spezza got traded as overpaid, declining, ufa's.

Heatlety was already being played on the 2nd and 3rd line and had lost his mojo. But he had gotten his $4mil signing bonus paid, and we have seen the trade value that can be assigned to that such as in the Brassard trade for one.

I still remember Heatleys infamous comment when asked why he wanted out, and he said something like: you'll see. At first i thought what we'd see was that he really sucked now. But perhaps he was foreshadowing Melnyks dickishness that more players than just him have apparently run from.
 
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Langdon Alger

Registered User
Apr 19, 2006
24,777
12,912
It seemed worse that it was probably partially because many of us at the time were still thinking of Heatley as a superstar who should have garnered a superstar return. And i remember many fans wanting Michalek as a return too. I guess HF Sens Fan pro scouting not much better than the Sens. Both Heatley and Spezza got traded as overpaid, declining, ufa's.

Heatlety was already being played on the 2nd and 3rd line and had lost his mojo. But he had gotten his $4mil signing bonus paid, and we have seen the trade value that can be assigned to that such as in the Brassard trade for one.

I still remember Heatleys infamous comment when asked why he wanted out, and he said something like: you'll see. At first i thought what we'd see was that he really sucked now. But perhaps he was foreshadowing Melnyks dickishness that more players than just him have apparently run from.

Heatley was not declining when he left. 82 points in his first year in San Jose. Then a drop down to 64 the next year. I doubt many would have predicted that decline back in 09. Easy to say now “well we all saw the decline about to happen.”

No we didn’t.
 

Micklebot

Moderator
Apr 27, 2010
53,145
30,369
We got bent over in the trade, but injuries/regression hurt Heatley more than the players we acquired.

Aside from that, it's really not a great way to compare trade value... By the logic put forth in this thread, getting four 20 pts forwards that cost 1.5 mil a piece for one pt per game forward that costs 8 mil would be a win... if we send Pyatt, Burrows, Smith and Shore to NYI for Tavares they wouldn't be calling that a good deal in hindsight a couple years down the road because the pieces they got played more games for less money and put up the same number of points.
 
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Silencio

Registered User
Nov 6, 2006
3,978
4,852
Toronto
Didn't San Jose use Heatley to
Rushed it? They didn’t deal him until the first day of camp. You think they should have just made him play until they got a great deal? What if he got hurt? What if teams interested played well and decided they didn’t want him? Also, it’s such a distraction to have a guy around who doesn’t want to be here.

Heatley held all the cards with his NTC. I don’t know this for sure, but I think he wanted San Jose all along, meaning he wouldn’t waive unless he got to go there. Even if I’m wrong, he probably had a short list of teams he would be willing to go to. He ****ed us over big time. I don’t care that it’s been almost a decade. He’s a piece of ****.

Based on what Steve Yzerman and Joe Sakic got back in return for their disgruntled players after waiting it out, I'm inclined to agree Murray should've played hardball with Heatley.
 

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