San Jose Sharks Win the Havlat for Heatley Trade

The San Jose Sharks and Minnesota Wild once again came out of nowhere announcing a blockbuster deal last night that will send Dany Heatley to the Minnesota Wild in exchange for Martin Havlat (the two teams dealt Burns for Setoguchi a few days earlier).  I’ve taken a look at this deal from a variety of perspectives and have to say that the Sharks definitely seem to have made a solid move here, but the Wild also needed a shake up and if they can get the best out of Dany Heatley the deal could work for both teams.

The Money

Dany Heatley has 3 years left on his deal that carries a cap hit of $7.5 Million, while Havlat has 4 years left on a deal that has a $5 M cap hit per season.  This more than compensates for the $0.5 M extra the Sharks took on with the Burns for Setoguchi swap and leaves the Sharks with $2M of space left to work with.  This cash can be used to add some depth to the bottom 6 forwards as well as add some stronger defensive d-men for crucial situations (the defense of the Sharks were outplayed against the Canucks this playoffs).

Winner: San Jose Sharks

The Needs

Doug Wilson came out and said that the Sharks needed to add speed to their top 6 forwards and Marty Havlat is one of the quicker players in the league and has breakaway type speed.  Needless to say that Dany Heatley’s game is not built around speed and it seemed like he lost a step the past couple seasons.  With Brunette likely to not resign in Minnesota the Wild needed a similar player to score goals around the net.  Heatley can do this and he also has a superior shot to Brunette if he can get to the open spots.  Koivu is known more of a hardnose working type player that has the skills to score, but by no means is he known as your typical playmaker like Heatley has had with Thornton and Spezza over the past several seasons.  Havlat and Koivu never really had a chance to mesh their styles of play because the Koivu/Brunette/Miettinen line was so strong and had been together for several years.  Heatley should definitely get the chance to play with Koivu and it will be interesting to see if the two mesh.

Winner: Remains to be seen

Better All Around Player

Martin Havlat is a very underrated player in the league for a variety of reasons.  Number one Havlat is known as a player who is always one hit away from injury.  That argument may not be fair as he has adjusted his game in recent years and has averaged 77 games each season over those past few seasons.  Havlat has also never played with as talented as players as himself.  In Minnesota Havlat was not on the top line due to their previous chemistry and instead usually lined up with Latendresse, Clutterbuck or Brodziak.  In Chicago it was much of the same with Havlat playing mostly with Dave Bolland, Andrew Ladd and other second tier players compared to himself (and Kane, Toews and Sharp), yet Havlat still led the team in scoring in both the regular season and the playoffs.  Even back in Ottawa Havlat was generally the 3rd RW on the depth chart behind Alfredsson and Hossa.  Havlat has the ability to make players around him better and has shown throughout his career that he does not need superstar teammates to produce.

Heatley on the other hand has typically had top tier linemates and it seems like his best days are behind him.  Heatley set the bar pretty high in Ottawa with a high points per game output of about 1.25 points/game, but this has dwindled of late and last season he only managed 0.8 points per game and even less in the playoffs.

Havlat will be able to play with any of the solid top 6 forwards on the Sharks, while it remains to be seen if Heatley will produce without an elite playmaking center.

Winner: San Jose Sharks

Playoff Performance

Havlat lives for the playoffs and he stated that playing for a top quality team and being able to play in the playoffs was the reason he waived his no movement clause.  If you watched any of the Blackhawks Conference Finals run in Havlat’s last year with the team you will know he brings it when it matters most.  His 15 points in 16 games led the team (even though he missed a couple games in the Detroit series from the Kronwall hit – which he did try to comeback from the next game showing his heart).  In his last 26 playoff games Havlat has 28 points and many of these were very important points for the team including a few series winning goals that I remember (overtime against Calgary in round 1 with the Blackhawks, overtime against Philly in round 1 with the Senators – just off the top of my head).

Heatley had a horrible playoffs last season scoring 9 points in 18 games and just not looking dangerous whatsoever.  He did have a good playoffs when the Senators made the Cup Finals a few years back, but Heatley just doesn’t seem to be the same player with the same drive.

Winner: It’s hard to say when we will likely only see Havlat in the playoffs over the next few seasons, but I’m sure he won’t disappoint – San Jose Sharks

I for one see this as a great move for the San Jose Sharks and I am even going to go as far as place a wager at an online betting site for the San Jose Sharks to win the Stanley Cup next season with the help of Havlat and Burns!

Martin Havlat will get Over 80 Points this Season

Me and my buddy made a bet how many points Havlat will get this season.  The over/under was 79.5, with a condition that he plays at least 75 games.

I feel that this condition really puts the bet in my favour.  Havlat has been a point a game guy with both the Senators and the Blackhawks and in Minnesota he will be looked to for even more offense as the go to guy.  Havlat was only playing around 15 minutes a game in Chicago because they were such a deep team that liked to run through their lines, but in Minnesota the depth isn’t there quite the same.  Havlat will be relied on to carry most of the offensive load and I for one feel he is up to the challenge.

By taking out the injury risk factor, that as we all know is a big risk when it comes to Havlat, it seems to me he has the skill and the role to put up huge numbers this season.  Coach Todd Richards has been preaching about offense and playing an attacking style.  So far the Wild haven’t been able to fully forget their defensive culture and embrace Richards plans, but this should happen in the near future and I think Havlat will be one of the main beneficiaries.

If you have Havlat in your hockey pool this season, congratulations because he is going to put up some big numbers.