Daniel Alfredsson Opens up about the Heatley Situation

Ottawa Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson didn’t pull any punches on Friday when he talked about what he expects disgruntled forward Dany Heatley to do if he’s still a member of the Senators when training camp opens its doors on September 12. Alfredsson who is the longest serving Senator stressed that it’s mandatory for admits this two time 50 goal scorer to right away address the team and explain why he wants to be traded. If that’s not done than Alfredsson knows that if Heatley’s not traded then it will be a season long distraction inside the dressing room. “You can’t just wipe it (Heatley’s trade demands) under the rug and go on, you’re going to have to address the situation, and we’ll do that if that’s the case next week,” said Alfredsson who is coming off a 74- point season. This 36 year-old captain who is entering his 14^th season is determined not to let this Heatley saga become a season long distraction but still didn’t sound to convinced at the prospects of having a disgruntled player on the team. “It’s not the ideal situation, but it’s something that can be worked out I guess,” said an unconvincing Alfredsson. Obviously it would be the best scenario for everybody (for him to be traded), but if it was that easy then I think that something would already have been done. We’re ready for whatever happens and we’ll make something good out of it.” While Alfredsson dodged the question about whether Heatley should have the ‘A’ removed from his sweater he did make it a point to say that he wants to hear first hand all the reasons why he wants to be traded.  Alfredsson knows how the media works and is aware that if Heatley is still in Ottawa when camp opens up then training camp will be a zoo with reporters routinely asking players about Heatley. Knowing there is nothing he can do Alfredsson is determined to just let things play out and most importantly not to let this negativity be an excuse for getting off to a bad start this season. “It’s not something that we’ll use as an excuse if we get off to a slow start. But if he comes back there is going to be a lot of attention, a lot of focus. Whatever happens in practice, if somebody hits him, or if something occurs, everything is going to be blown out of proportion.” After the drastically disappointing season Ottawa had last year it’s hard to see how having an unhappy player on their team such as Heatley can’t effect team moral in a negative manner.