Has Dany Heatley played his last game as an Ottawa Senator? I sure hope he has. It was leaked this week that Dany has asked to be traded, and that came as a big slap in the face to Sens fans everywhere.  He was once considered a star within the Senators organization. A player that many fans, young and old, looked up to. For 4 years we Sens fans cheered him on, and in one fell swoop he destroyed all respect that he had gained. From what one can gather by reading newspaper articles, blogs and social media sites, Dany Heatley has quickly become one of the most reviled players to wear a Sens uniform. How did it all go so wrong?

What we can gather from little information that’s been made available, Dany does not like playing for Clouston or his system. A system that preaches accountability, hard work and a team first mentality. By asking for this trade, Heatley has shown that he only cares about himself and padding his goal total. Its not about the team winning, its not about working hard, its about Dany and Dany alone. Over the last couple of years we’ve noticed that Dany’s style of play was to hang around the goal, wait for a pass and shoot the one timer. Not creating plays, not going into the corners, not backchecking, but we mostly looked the other way because he was putting the puck in the net.

We thought that Dany requesting and getting the A meant that he was not only a team player, but a team leader. Were we fooled! That A should have been a T for traitor.  We welcomed you with open arms when you requested to be traded from your other team due to some horrific events that happened there. Even though it meant losing one of the biggest team favorites at the time, we took you in and welcomed you to our team and our city. The team showed its dedication to you by not only giving you a 5 year, 37.5 million dollar contract extension, but also by giving you a no trade clause. The team gets into a little trouble for a couple of seasons, trouble that seems to have been surmounted with Clouston’s arrival, and you want to jump ship?

You’ve lost the respect of an entire fanbase. The Sens Army does not want to ever see you in a Sens uniform again. You’ve disgraced yourself and you’ve spat on the organization and fans that supported you, all because you’re nothing but a talented yet lazy bum.  Good riddance.

rapid-fire (rap′id fīr′)

adjective

done, delivered, proceeding, or carried on swiftly and sharply

Summer movie season has started, and right out of the gate we have a front runner for best movie of the summer. Its a really great story, with great characters (with a different twist from the characters we knew before), amazing acting and some special FX that are not only really well done, but they blend into the movie and are used to progress the story, instead of just showing off FX for the sake of showing FX. It reboots the franchise allowing for a fresh start (or an alternate universe, depending on how you choose to see it). If you only see one movie this summer, Star Trek is the one to see.  9 out of 10

The first disappointment of the summer came a couple of weeks later with Terminator: Salvation. Its not a bad movie per say, but its not great either. After having digested the movie a bit, I would place it on equal footing with T3. I was expecting more from this movie. More action, more war against the machines, more John Connor. Instead we got introduced to a new character and most of the movie revolved around him. I think that giving McG the reins on this movie was a bad decision. It wasn’t bad, but it could have been so much more, which is what’s the most disappointing. 6.5 out of 10

Metallica are coming back to Ottawa in October for their Death Magnetic tour. We haven’t seen Metallica in our fair city since 2004. Buying tickets for this show was a no-brainer. Didn’t get amazing seats, but they aren’t bad seats either. The show sold out in less than a day which suprised me. Now the countdown begins!

Stone Temple Pilots is one of those bands that have been on my ‘must see in concert’ for a while now. When the band broke up in 2003, I thought that I would never see this amazing band live and in person. I had to settle to seeing Velvet Revolver. Here we are now 6 years later, the band is not only back together, not only about to release a new album, but they are also playing Ottawa Blues Fest! There’s no way I was going to miss this concert. Getting first row tickets was almost beyond belief! I finally get to see STP live! I’m so psyched!

Who would have guessed that Detroit and Pittsburgh would meet again in the 2009 Stanley Cup Finals. I certainly didn’t, and was hoping not to see it happen again. Out of all the teams that made the playoffs, these 2 teams, along with the Montreal Canadiens, were the teams I really did not want to see in the finals. Can Detroit repeat another win this year? I think so. I don’t think that Pittsburgh still has what it takes to be Stanley Cup champions. I call Detroit Red Wings in 6, and Sid the Kid Crosby crying in the corner again this year.

TV season is over, and here’s some thoughts on some shows and finales; Lost had a great season finale, sucks that we have to wait 8 months until the next and final season. Smallville’s season finale was probably the worst of the series. It was very meh. Survivor was good, finally a good guy winning the million again. Really sucks that My Name Is Earl got cancelled. Hopefully it will be picked up by another network. Also sucks that Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles got cancelled. This show really delved into the characters of the Terminator universe. We got to see what made them tick. It was very much a psychological and cerebral show. It will be missed. Surprisingly, Dollhouse got picked up for next season. Rumours are that Summer Glau (Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles, Firefly) will be joining the show. Fringe’s season finale was also really interesting. Fringe and Dollhouse are easily my 2 favorite new shows. I can’t wait to see where both shows will take us.

After years of wanting to get a DSLR, and having learned most of what I could by using a point and shoot camera,  I finally got my hands on one. The new Canon T1i. This was my treat to myself for quitting smoking (4 months now), and I also had to drop my monthly comic book sub from approx 30 books a month to 5, but it was worth it. I’m absolutely in love with this camera, and I’m driving my wife and family crazy because I bring it everywhere I go.  I can already tell that I’ve improved my photography skills and technique and hope that the learning never stops and the skill keeps on getting better.

Last but not least, today (May 31st) marks the one year anniversary of my and my wife’s wedding. I can’t believe we’ve been married for one year already. The time has gone very quickly. Here’s to many more years of happiness together. I love you sweetie.

My 2009 Stanley Cup Predictions – 1st round results:

Easter Conference

NY Rangers vs Washington: Washington in 7 Actual: Washington in 7
Philadelphia vs Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh in 6 Actual: Pittsburgh in 6
Carolina vs New Jersey: New Jersey in 5 Actual: Carolina in 7
Boston vs Montreal: Boston in 5 Actual: Boston in 4

Western Conference

St-Louis vs Vancouver: Vancouver in 5 Actual: Vancouver in 4
Columbus vs Detroit: Detroit in 6 Actual: Detroit in 4
Calgary vs Chicago: Calgary in 7 Actual: Chicago in 6
Anaheim vs San Jose: San Jose in 7 Actual: Anaheim in 6

I didn’t do too badly. 2 series I called 100%. Called 5 out of 8 winners.
The biggest surprise has been Anaheim. I never would have expected them to beat San Jose.
The biggest disappointment has been Calgary losing to Chicago.
The biggest happy happy joy joy series was Boston sweeping Montreal in 4.

Now here are my predictions for the 2nd round:

Washington vs Pittsburgh: Washington in 6
Boston vs Carolina: Boston in 5
Anaheim vs Detroit: Anaheim in 7
Vancouver vs Chicago: Vancouver in 6

For the last few months, the Ottawa Senators message boards, call-in shows and fan chatter have been buzzing with the sound of ‘fans’ saying that we have to get Jay Bouwmeester. As the most sought puck moving defenceman in the league, Bouwmeester is going to be a free agent this summer, but I can guarantee you that he will not be wearing a Sens jersey come October, and it all has to do with finance and the cap.

If we were somehow able to dump some significant salary, we’d only have  enough cap room to have Bouwmeester for 1 year. At the end of the 2009-2010 season, assuming the cap doesn’t go down (which it will), the Ottawa Senators will have less than 14 million to re-sign 12 players. Murray currently has about 14 million at his disposal but has a few players to re-sign or replace this summer, both of which will take away from that 14M.

And lets look at who we have to re-sign this summer:

• Comrie: UFA
• Neil: UFA
• Shannon: RFA
• Bell: RFA
• Elliot: RFA

I would expect at minimum 3 out of those 5 players to be re-signed this summer.

Here’s who’s contracts run out at the end of next season:

• Schubert: UFA
• Foligno: RFA
• Donovan: UFA
• Winchester: RFA
• Bass: RFA
• Smith: UFA
• Volchenkov: UFA
• Picard: RFA
• Lee: RFA
• Campoli: RFA
• Auld: UFA

And from the Baby Sens (and our future):

• Zubov: RFA
• Regin: RFA
• Hennessy: RFA
• Carkner: UFA

Come the summer of 2010, we’ll have approximately 9 million to re-sign all those players. Even if we replace some or most with junior players, which is likely to happen, that is still a salary that counts against the cap. Volchenkov, if we can manage to keep him, will be in for a raise (I’d expect 3.5-4.5M). Schubert and Auld are almost guaranteed to not be re-signed if they are still around. Smith is unlikely to be re-signed. Foligno and maybe Campoli are almost sure bets be to re-signed, and its up in the air for the rest.

There’s also the matter of our current highly paid players. We have 3 players making more than 7 million next year. Add Bouwmeester and that would be 4 players that would eat up more than 55% of your cap space (assuming a cap of 52M). Add Fisher’s 4M and that’s 5 players taking up 62% of your salary. Alfie, Spezza and Heatley are not going anywhere. I very much doubt any team would take on Fisher’s salary, so even if we wanted to trade him we wouldn’t be able to find a willing dance partner (that’s assuming Fisher would waive his no trade clause). No well rounded, cup  contending team can afford to have 4 players making more than 7 million in this cap era.

If by some miracle the cap space magically goes up to 65-70 million next year and is guaranteed to stay at those levels for 3-4 years and Melnyk allows Murray to spend the full 65-70M, we could afford to go after Bouwmeester. But that’s not going to happen.  If it were to somehow magically happen, I think the Sens would benefit more by getting a guy like Cammalleri, as the Sens are in need of bonafide 2nd line scorer.

The final Ottawa Senators wallpaper calendar for the 2008-2009 season. Sadly my beloved Sens are not making the playoffs this year, a first in 12 years. Its been a rollercoaster ride, a very slow start followed by a really good finish. We have a great player core and I don’t doubt that we’ll be back to being the competitive team that we can be for the 2009-2010 season.