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Martin Havlat of the San Jose Sharks

On July 3, 2011, The San Jose Sharks traded Dany Heatley to the Minnesota Wild for Martin Havlat. When I first heard of the trade, I wasn’t exactly thrilled nor excited since I felt Heatley wasn’t given enough time to get his scoring mojo back (only 2 years with the Sharks). But after thinking about it some more and looking over the stats, I am very excited to welcome Marty aboard this season and wishing Dany well on his new team….but not too well.

Going back a few seasons, I remember the drama that unfolded out of Ottawa and Edmonton when Heatley denied the trade to the Oilers. I know it was the slow news of the off season and it also took place in Canada, but having a player demand a tradeand offering up a list of teams you are willing to go to seems a bit prima donna-ish and Idon’t think the Sens fans would disagree with that. Minnesota will be his fourth team since he was drafted into the NHL, which seems to be a lot when you are an “elite” player. Also remember that this is the guy who killed a teammate in a nasty car crash very early on in his career. I remember saying something about it not being the worst decision if the Sharks trade Heatley back in March and it is still readable today. But enough about Heater, let’s talk about Marty and why he will be much better.

Martin Havlat has the “it” factor that no one can really measure or explain – you just need to see him on the ice. He is a phenomenal one-on-one player that goes hard to the net and can be a game-changer. Looking at his numbers while playing the past two seasons in Minnesota may seem weak (116 points in 151 games) but remember that he was not playing with an elite centerman and Minnesota has been playing a more defensive system. Take a look at his top 10 goals to see what he is capable of, and imagine what he will do playing with either Jumbo or Couture:

[youtube width=”600″ height=”350″ link=”http://youtu.be/_t4vax189Uk”]

The best part about Havlat playing on the Sharks in place of Heater is his level of play in the playoffs. This is exactly the kind of player the Sharks have been missing ever since they began dominating regular seasons after the lockout. And for Havlat to come to a very good team with elite players, he will not be relied as heavily upon to make up all of the offense. This should help him thrive in the black and teal playing with much better linemates than in Minnesota. The Sharks also picked up Handzus and look to use their role players more than before. This should keep the top two lines fresher with seeing less penalty kill time which wears you down over the course of the 82 game regular season.

The last thing that is so great about Havlat is the price point. Trading Heatley’s $7.5 million salary and getting Havlat at $6 million leaves room under the cap to possibly sign another player. I don’t foresee Doug Wilson making anymore moves until after the season starts though and I don’t think he needs to. More on that in my next article though….

Again, I am looking forward to seeing Havlat in a Sharks jersey and I hope you are too. What kind of year do you think he will have and who would you like to see him play with?

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