Oh Dany Boy. The Pipes, the pipes are calling…..

I love a good sports soap opera and there is one raging today in Ottawa.  A couple days ago star winger Dany Heatley asked for a trade and since then, the entire populace of Ottawa has been in an uproar not seen since the days of….er…well….ever.  People in Ottawa don’t really protest anything.  They ‘tst tsk’ under their breaths, shake their heads and go about their daily business.  But believe me, there is a lot of tsking and head shaking going on in Canada’s capital today.  And rightly so.  Since the Senators lost in the Stanley Cup final back in 2007, the team has been in turmoil. 

When the Cup series was over, the Senators had a brief civil war in their front office between G.M John Muckler and the coach Byran Murray for control of the teams operations.  Murray won and was promoted G.M. while Muckler was shown the door.  Murray then hired John Paddock to coach the team.  The Senators got off to a hot start the following season and lead the Eastern Conference up until January.  Then the wheels fell off.  After a prolonged slump that saw the Sens lose 14 0f 21 games, Murray fired Paddock and put himself behind the bench.  The change did little to improve the club and they were swept out of the first round of the playoffs by the Penguins.  After the disappointing season was over, Murray promised changes.  He hired Craig Hartsburg to coach, and got rid of goaltender Ray Emery, who many saw as a problem in the Senators dressing room.  Also shown the door via trades or free agency was Wade Redden, Mike Commodore, Cory Stillman, Martin Lapointe, Brian McGratton and Andrej Meszaros. 

Despite all the changes, the bad times continued this past season.  After a 17-24-7 start, the Senators fired coach Hartsburgh and hired Cory Clouston to take the helm.  In case you were not counting, Clouston became the forth guy to lead the bench in two seasons (fifth if you count the fact that Murray took over during the middle of  2007-2008 season).  Now I am no Rhodes Scholar but something seems seriously amiss in O-town.  Since the Cup run, three men tried to coach this team before Clouston and failed miserably. 

When coaches are fired, they thank the organization for the opportunity to coach, they thank the G.M and call him a good man, the tell the fans they are sorry for letting them down and they then tell the media that all the guys in the dressing room are good fellows.  Recently fired coaches do not burn bridges because they want to coach again.  But coaches who have been fired a couple seasons ago have no problems speaking their minds.  I was listening to a radio interview with John Paddock the day that Hartsburg was fired and he said someing that perked my ears.  He told the radio host that the problem in Ottawa was not the coach but the players.  He said some quite uncomplimentary things about Spezza, Heatley, Alfredsson and co.  And all I could think was “finally….someone telling the truth”.  The whispers and murmurs from players who are no longer a part of the Senators was never very good as well.  They spoke of a fractured team that was often directionless.  Players seemed more concerned with their own personal stats than the teams overall success.  And now Heatley has proven all those rumours to be correct.

By asking for a trade, Dany-boy is telling the hockey world that he is unhappy with the team and its direction.  Why would a man who last year signed a 7.5 million/year contract extension suddenly have a change of heart and want to flee the Senators?  The answer is Cory Clouston.  Coach Clouston is known for his no-nonsense approach and Dany, well, Dany has a lot of baggage and does not seem to thrive in an environment that holds him accountable.  Clouston wanted Heatley to stop focusing on getting 50 goals a year and become a more complete player.  This did not sit well with the All-Star winger and the two fueded publically and privately.  The problem must have been much worse than we all knew because now Mr. Heatley has turned his back on his second team (he demanded a trade from the team that drafted him; the Atlanta Thrashers back in 2004) and is ready to get the heck out of dodge.  I am the furthest you can get for a Senators fan, but I think I speak for the majority of them when I say  “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out Dany.”  With Heatley out of the way, perhaps the Senators may be able to address the real problems with the organization and get the team back on track.

 The Greener \m/