After asking for a trade over the summer from the Ottawa Senators, Dany Heatley will face off for the first time against his former teammates as the Senators travel to San Jose Wednesday night.
Dany Heatley Faces Old Squad Wednesday Night
The story of this game is going to be Heatley and the Senators. Heatley asked out of Ottawa over this past offseason and after months of trying, the Senators worked out a deal that sent Heatley to San Jose for Milan Michalek and Jonathan Cheechoo. Heatley as played extremely well in San Jose scoring 18 goals in 28 games this season. The Senators have done just as well without Heatley as they are in seventh position in the conference with 30 points in 24 games.
Sharks Blog Fear The Fin has this to say about tonight's game:
First off, you can't ignore the media generated significance of a game against two non-division, non-conference, non-rival teams. Even though these two squads have relatively no past when it comes to on ice activity, the Heatley-gate saga manufactured enough drama to make this seem like a game with the importance of a seventh tilt in a playoff series.
Granted, there will more than likely be some bad blood coming from the Senators squad, who will want to show that they don't need Heatley to succeed. So far, they've done a good job of that... posting 30 points on the year and holding down the seventh playoff seed in the Eastern Conference.
Problem is, most of that success is independent of the pieces that the Senators acquired in exchange for Heatley. Although Milan Michalek has gotten hot of late and leads the Senators with 13 goals (Czech him out!), Jonathan Cheecoo has struggled, posting only 4 points in 24 games with his new team. Regardless, it will be nice to see Cheech back at HP Pavilion, but this time I won't necessarily be rooting for him. Hell, he can score a goal once the Sharks are up six. Least we can do for the guy.
Lost in the fray of things is the homecoming of Michalek and Cheechoo. Cheechoo played 449 games with the Sharks while Michalek played 317 games. They had this to say about the game:
"It's a weird feeling being in the other locker room," Michalek said.
"There's a lot of people I know who are going to be in the stands," Cheechoo said. "The fans treated me great from the first moment I skated on the ice here. I guess it was nice that my name almost rhymed with (Mike) Ricci."
This will be the only matchup between the two teams this season unless they meet in the Stanley Cup Finals. Both teams are going to have something to prove to the other as this game has the media hype of a playoff game.
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