"The Dany Heatley experiment is over in San Jose.
Two years ago, the Sharks capped a summer of turmoil in Heatley's life by acquiring the high-scoring left wing as the sniper to complement the passing skills of center Joe Thornton. Sunday, the Sharks shipped Heatley to the Minnesota Wild in exchange for Martin Havlat, an offensive-minded forward who hasn't matched Heatley's numbers but adds a different element to the lineup.
"This is a high-end player that's got that breakaway speed. That's important to us," said Sharks general manager Doug Wilson, noting that his team had gotten slower up front by trading Devin Setoguchi to the same Wild team on June 24 for defenseman Brent Burns.
Wilson had nothing but good things to say about Heatley, despite a drop in his production from 39 to 26 goals this past season, a falloff that the general manager attributed in part to a serious hand injury.
"Dany Heatley is a true professional," Wilson said. "I'm proud that he wore our uniform, I was proud to watch him represent us last year in the Olympics. These are two very good players. We just felt at this time that where we're at, Marty Havlat was an important piece to add to our team."
Both players are 30 and have contracts that gave them some control over their fate.
Havlat agreed to waive the no-movement clause in his contract that will pay him $5 million annually for the next four seasons. A clause in Heatley's contract, that carries a salary cap hit of $7.5 million through the 2013-14 season, allowed him to name 10 teams on July 1 to which he could not be traded, and the Wild obviously was not on that list."
