"It was almost signed, sealed and delivered," wrote The Ottawa Citizen.
After a night of trade talks involving Senators scorer Dany Heatley,
who recently asked the team to trade him, the Sens had reportedly
agreed on a deal Tuesday night to send the 28-year-old left wing to the
Edmonton Oilers for center Andrew Cogliano, right wing Dustin Penner and defenseman Ladislav Smid.
But Heatley, who had a $4 million signing bonus with the Senators that
kicked in at midnight, refused to waive his no-trade clause, sending
the Ottawa brass back to the drawing board.
According to the Citizen, Edmonton wasn’t on Heatley’s list of preferred teams.
After sending Scott Gomez to the Montreal Canadiens in a deal
earlier Tuesday and clearing up plenty of cap space, the New York
Rangers appeared to be the logical destination for Heatley, who scored
39 goals and dished out 33 assists in 2008-09.
But the right deal hasn't come around just yet, says Senators assistant general manager Tim Murray.
“We’re willing to trade him, obviously, but we need a dance partner,” said Murray.
“It’s up to those teams that have called and kicked the tires. If
they call back today with an offer we think is fair, he will be traded.
“We know we're not getting a 50-goal scorer back. We just want to get the right people back who can help us win.”
