Sunday was a quiet day on the free agency front, the transactions of note was defenseman Derrick Meech going from Detroit to Winnipeg. Meech was a regular in the lineup during the franchises appearances in the Stanley Cup Finals in 2008 and 2009, but has spent most of his time with the AHL affiliate in Grand Rapids since then. Another notable transaction was forward Niclas Bergfors switching conferences as he goes from Florida to Nashville.
The big bomb was dropped late Sunday night when San Jose traded star forward Dany Heatley to Minnesota for Martin Havlat. The trade was one of the biggest transactions of the early transfer period. The two were actually teammates with the Ottawa Senators the first seasons after the 2005 lockout. The trade will give Minnesota a franchise player, something they have not had since Marian Gaborik left in 2009. San Jose hopes to get someone with the playoff drive and experience that could help push them over the top as they have lost in the conference finals each of the last two seasons. Havlat has played in the postseasons twice since the lockout; in 2006 when Ottawa was upset in the second round by Buffalo and 2009 when Chicago lost in the conference finals to Detroit. Last season he played 78 games, scored 22 goals and recorded 40 assists. Heatley wasn’t as productive in 2010-11 as he was in 2009-10, but only two seasons in San Jose. Last season he scored 26 goals in 80 games but was largely absent during the postseason when he scored three goals in 18 games. During the 2010 playoffs he was even more absent when he lit the lamp 39 times in 82 games but scored twice in 14 playoff games.
Heatley also ranked first in the NHL in power-play goals (128) and game-winning goals (58), third in goals (325) and fifth in points (689) since he entered the League in 2001. Minnesota scored just 206 goals last season, the fifth-lowest total in the League.
Today on July 4, there were a few free agent transactions of note. Goalie Curtis McElinney signed with Phoenix. It will be his fourth-team in the span of his five seasons. The 6-foot-2, 197-pound goalie has made 67 NHL appearances in that time, posting a 18-26-4 record with a 3.13 goals against average (GAA) and a .898 save percentage. The free-agency pool for goalies is even smaller as several teams are looking for help in net.
In addition, Fan-attacking forward Rick Rypien is staying in Canada but is changing teams as he signed a deal with Winnipeg. He is 27 years old and played in 119 career games in the NHL with the Canucks from 2005 to 2011 where he has scored 16 points and 226 penalty minutes.
The Jets were pretty busy in the first few days of free agency, as they signed six players over the holiday weekend.
[…] for the next four seasons, ranking him right there with some of the NHL’s elite talent, such as Dany Heatley, Joe Thornton and Jason Spezza – all of whom will make $8 million this upcoming […]
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[…] of the biggest trades of the summer involved the Sharks sending Dany Heatley to Minnesota in exchange for Martin Havlat in basically a tit-for-tat trade. While Havlat always carries injury concerns, he is capable of […]