Alberta Bound?

Dany Heatley wants out of Ottawa, prompting sideline scribes and prognosticating pundits to suggest that the Calgary Flames would be a suitable location to station his sizable ego, store his baggage-filled luggage and saddle the Flames administration with his multi-million dollar salary. Heatley is a Calgary kid and coming home to the prairie might just be the anecdote needed to resolve the tormented issues that have hampered his on-ice development. Oh, he’s a dangerous sniper who can put the biscuit in the basket – the 180 pucks he has deposited behind enemy goaltenders in the past four seasons are a glowing testament to that skill. However, he remains a resolutely one-way player with remarkable offensive gifts but little or no regard for playing the defensive side of the puck. Ottawa has never recovered from their decision to allow Zdena Chara to test the free agent waters and have been searching for a dominant blueline presence ever since. To acquire a rearguard capable of anchoring the defense, supplying opportunistic offense and providing a veteran voice to help nurture the blossoming newcomers requires making a sizable sacrifice. Heatley has actually helped Bryan Murray by volunteering to be the ammunition that gets blasted out of the Nation’s Capital. However, by admitting he didn’t care for having his ice time diminished or the defensively responsible system being implemented by new Senator bench boss Cory Clouston, Heatley has flung himself on trembling turf, one that might just shake him off the consideration list for the Canadian Olympic Team.

With that blueprint on the table, should Calgary care to enter the sweepstakes for securing his services, it would require surrendering one of the their big two boys on the blueline – the offensively gifted but still defensively immature Dion Phaneuf or the rambunctious and rugged anchor of the own zone Robyn Regehr. While it’s true Phaneuf struggled most of the season – oddly he never seemed to be the same player after Sean Avery opened his venomous trap and spewed those unfortunate and inappropriate comments about Phaneuf’s current flame off the ice – his potential still far outweighs his downside. If Mr. Sutter has done his diligence – and there’s nothing in his character to suggest otherwise – it’s safe to assume he has watched too many astute NHL gm’s pillage promise by offering tempting but ultimately unfulfilling treats. As for Regehr, it’s doubtful Darryl Sutter would even grunt a recordable response should Mr. Murray come a calling.

Yet, at the same time, Sutter loves a challenge, has never shied away from making controversial decisions and has a history of success with reclamation projects. The prospect of having Heatly and Iginla lighting a burner under the Flames has to be intriguing. When the press asks him the obvious questions – and he’ll be pestered endlessly by the Fifth Estate in the days to come – Sutter will deftly deflect the queries with a carefully worded non-denial denial. But make no mistake – if Mr. Sutter thought for a single second that the addition of Heatley would bring the Flames a step closer to the Stanley Cup instead of a stumble backward, he’d swing the deal regardless of the cost.

Tags: Bryan Murray, Cory Clouston, Dany Heatly, Darryl Sutter, Dion Phaneuf, Robyn Regehr