(Warning: blogger is still kind of angry.)

Regarding the question of why our soon-to-be former sniper has decided to spit in Sens’ fans faces and skip town, answers beyond “he doesn’t like Coach Clouston” are few and far between. I have, however, come across a couple of items that may shed some light on the subject.

First, from Wayne Scanlan in the Citizen:

When I was in Switzerland to cover the world championship, I had a chance to speak to Heatley about the fan response he receives in Europe, especially in Switzerland, where he played briefly during the lockout. He is THE most admired Canadian player abroad … at least he was on the recent worlds team. It’s different in Ottawa. The “old guard,” Heatley said, referring specifically to Alfredsson, Mike Fisher and Chris Phillips, own the town. He and Spezza hadn’t been here long enough.

I get that, to an extent. It’s valid, particularly in Mike Fisher’s case, to say that Ottawa fans will let a player get away with more on the ice if he’s perceived to do more in the community. But at the same time I’m left wondering: what did he want from us? The people of Ottawa embraced him, as far as I can tell. He was, until he ditched us, my favourite player. Ask Scarlett Ice’s DHS, now in need of a new screenname, how he feels right now. One of the guys on The Team yesterday pointed out that if you look at the jerseys in the crowd at a Sens game, the ones with #15 on them are probably outnumbered only by the #11s, which leads me to ask: is this guy seriously complaining about the fact that people love Alfie more than they love him? Dude. It’s Alfie.

Second, I listened to The Team 1200’s interview with Heatley’s agent, Stacy McAlpine, yesterday morning. The guy didn’t give a lot of big answers, that’s for sure, but one thing he did say was that Heatley wanted a large role on the team — presumably a larger role than he’d been given — and that he’s “entitled” to that. (Yes, he used the word entitled.) Hearing this, I have to wonder again what exactly Heatley thought was going to get. He was given the A this year at his request — over “old guard” member Fisher — and, as Scanlan points out, when Alfie was injured early in the season he was given the C — over “old guard” member Phillips. What more could he have wanted? The captaincy? Let me say this again, really clearly so there’s no mistake:

IT’S ALFIE!

As fellow OBC blogger Sherry said in an email, “the only way you’re getting that C is to pry it off of Alfie’s dead, lifeless carcass.”

Geez. And anyway, when we get our hearts stomped on every couple of seasons by some diva who wants more from us, is it any wonder Ottawa fans will give more leeway to the ones who’ve stuck it out? Good luck getting your new team to make you the captain, Mr. I Just Bailed on My Team a Year Into My New Contract. I’m so very, very sorry we couldn’t provide quite enough food for your ego.

So that’s it then. This article doesn’t show it, but SportsCentre tonight had a clip of Dany Heatley’s agent, J.P. Barry, actually confirming that they’ve asked for a trade.

I read the news this morning when someone on Twitter linked to E.J. Hradek’s original story on ESPN’s website. My initial reaction was a kind of shocked disbelief. A genuine “What the frak?!” moment. I read more, and concluded it was likely true.

Well. Ain’t that a punch to the gut.

SENShobo generously suggests that Heatley is taking one for the team here, saving Bryan Murray from having to trade any of his other core players. hobo is clearly a better person than I am, because all I can see is someone who couldn’t deal with it when things got a little ugly so he decided to bail. Someone whose ego apparently couldn’t handle being moved to the second power play unit (a move initiated by Craig Hartsburg, by the way, not Cory Clouston) even though his production actually went up after his “demotion.” (I assume there must be more to this than that one complaint, and I very much hope there’s some kind of story behind all this that will make Heatley seem like less of a villain.)

I am at least partially rational here. I can see that this may end up being an opportunity for the team to grow. I can also take comfort in the fact that Murray has held on to Jason Spezza, who, as James Gordon writes, has managed not to be a whiny biatch during the Sens’ crappy phase (so far).

But at the moment I’m mostly feeling the emotional impact of this. I feel betrayed. I feel blindsided. I feel, basically, like I and my team have been dumped. We had a commitment here, or so I thought. Fat long-term contract, no movement clause. He couldn’t have seemed happier to sign it, and we were overjoyed to be keeping him around. And then the going got rough, and he decided greener pastures were in order. Nice to know he was so invested in the team. I know, there’s no loyalty in professional sports. But this sure makes you appreciate Daniel Alfredsson even more, doesn’t it?

I feel like going all Stephen Colbert (and DHS) and marking Heatley as dead to me. I don’t want to look at him. Never want to hear “The Heat is On” again and might sell my Heatley jersey on eBay. It seems reasonable to feel this way right after the breakup. Maybe this is the fan equivalent of the woman burning all her asshole ex-boyfriend’s stuff. Maybe I’ll get over it soon and start to care what team he ends up with. (Right now, I’d happily send him to the Islanders.)

But today, I’m pissed off. I’m very disappointed. I’ve got some rage. And I’ve got a song that expresses my messed up angry dumped fan rage, with a special (slightly censored) message for Heatley at the 3:15 mark. Adios, Heater.