Heatley Trade Deadline - September 12

The Dany Heatley situation is, for lack of a better term Heating all the way up. It is now clear to us here at BlueShirt Brothers that Dany will be traded by September 12th. Here's why:

Ottawa Senators General Manager Bryan Murray has become increasingly frustrated with his attempts to trade his disgruntled high scoring forward. Murray updated the Canadian National Post yesterday about his attempts to trade Heatley:

"Teams have indicated some interest -- a couple of teams only. But we've never been able even to get what I would consider an offer that I could consider, so, for the moment, I'm not very optimistic."

"I keep trying, we keep talking. We don't seem to be going very far,"

But here's where it gets interesting. Reporters asked Murray if he planned to set a deadline to make a Heatley trade. His response:

"I think we have to, fairly soon, make a statement or declaration that if we're not going to get a deal done, that Dany is coming back to training camp and to the Senators," he said. "I don't know if I can say [exactly when], but we've got to look at training camp coming fairly quickly here. I'd like the coaches and the players to know that we have a certain group of people coming in."

Murray is saying that if they don't trade Dany soon - they have to stop trying and get ready to start the regular season with him. But the way this has played out - that seem increasingly unlikely - for three reasons:

1 - Murray publicly denounced his forward - asking the coach to pull the Alternate Captain's "A" off his jersey.

2 - Heatley continues to talk to the press and blames Ottawa for making his trade request public.

3 - Ottawa's owner Eugene Melnyk has admitted being "antsy" about a possible Heatley return to the Senators. he was quoted saying: "I think everybody wants to just move on"

And so, for all the above reasons, it looks to us like there's no way Dany and the Senators can reconcile and no way he will be back.

But then, if Dany will be gone by Ottawa's self-imposed deadline, when exactly will that deadline arrive?

We've got a pretty good guess. Training camp for the veteran players starts September 12th. If Murray doesn't want his players fielding endless questions about Heatley on that day - he'll have to get a deal done by then.

So, to us - it's obvious - Heatley will be traded by September 12th. And from the rumors we're hearing - the Rangers are one of two teams still in the hunt.

Of course we've been wrong before...