Hossa, Heatley - Hooray!

I'm sure everyone's heard by now: Danny Heatley for Marian Hossa and Greg de Vries. My take? I like it from a Senator point of view. They managed to ditch a whining, snivelling little brat in Hossa - who had just signed a much too lucritive 3-year contract today. To boot, they ditched DeVries, who's slated to make $2.3 million this year.

Now the Senators can concentrate on locking up Redden and Chara long term, while in the same breath ridding themselves of a headache in Hossa, a player who had obviously irritated some of the Senators brass.

The only downside is that Heatley may be damaged goods. Everyone knows of his troubled past, and his performance at the team Canada camp was less than stellar. But in my opinion, Heatley will rebound and become the dominant player that he was blossoming into. That's great news for Ottawa fans.

There are those that say Hossa is a better talent whether or not Heatley is at full form- and I've heard that often today - but if Heatley does return to form, that just aint the case, guys. He was a scoring machine for a weak Thrasher team, and was steadily improving. Sure, he suffered a setback last season, but his totals were more than respectable (31gp - 13g - 12a - 25pts) given what he went through.

From a Thrasher standpoint, the deal makes sense because Heatley wanted out of Atlanta. If Heatley had wanted to stay, this deal probably doesn't get done. The addition of de Vries certainly solidifies the Thrasher back-end, and I think they may surprise some people this year. If Kovalchuk doesn't react negatively to this move, and Hossa can remain a consistent goal scorer, they will challenge for a playoff spot.