The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

After Sydney Crosby, who is the best player in the NHL?

A case could be made for Dany Heatley.

And Senators fans will have to think about the possibility that this may be the last season we'll see Heatley in an Ottawa Senators uniform.

After the end of the 2007-08 season, Heatley will become an unrestricted free agent. And as we all saw this past summer, teams with cap space and a sense of desperation are willing to throw big dollars at players to lure them to their franchise. Heatley and his agent knows this. And so does Senators management. Not wanting contract talks to become a distraction, Heatley has told the team he'll stop negotiations until the summer if a deal isn't done by October 3. Sens owner Eugene Melnyk joined in the talks to pitch to Heatley a long-term deal...at a reduced price. Melnyk wants a winner, and he'll keep pressing for Ottawa to win a Stanley Cup. But, the reality is you can't have too much money tied up with one player. You need to have a good supporting cast and Melnyk will try hard to appeal to Heatley's competitiveness in hopes he'll take a shade less so Ottawa can keep their core players. Ottawa re-signed Mike Fisher long-term just recently, and Ray Emery got his new contract in the summer. Long-term deals for Chris Philips and Anton Volchenkov were signed at the start of the playoffs last season. Captain Daniel Alfredsson has a team option to play until 2011-12 and it's all but certain it will be exercised. These contracts should prove to Heatley Ottawa is serious about having a winner.

But, this is all a moot point if it's just money Heatley wants. I am betting Melnyk even demonstrated how earning less than market value will help Ottawa keep his good friend Jason Spezza on the squad as he'll also need a new contract at the end of the year.

I'm not sure what Heatley's state of mind is. He can earn top dollar on the open market if he wants and he might decide that's the course to take. I'd like to think Heatley enjoys playing for a Canadian market that embraces ice hockey and appreciates what he's done. But is that enough to convince him to move from his reported $8.5 million asking price each year to something closer to $7 million? To me, I'm not sure how much your life style can change if you earn $45 million over the course of a contract instead $50 million. I hope he realizes this, because as a fan, it would be a sad day to see him go.