Dany Heatley to the Penguins? Your Daily Rumor Debunking

This summer has been an interesting one. With the Wild suddenly thrust into relevancy with the signings of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, the so called "insider" accounts have been having a field day with Wild fans dumb enough to buy in. While we continue to search for a name for the collective that follows these people, coming up with a name for those accounts is easy.

Pick your synonym for fraud and apply as needed.

The fun part for us is just how bent out of shape people get over these accounts, despite most of them claiming they know they are false and follow them only for "entertainment." Last night, another one came across my virtual desk, and with a little help from @knowsknothing on Twitter, the source was tracked down so we can debunk this one for you.

Enjoy.

It's not often a beat writer gets involved with rumor bashing. To have one do so in the middle of the dog days of summer is a whole new level. So, when Penguins beat writer Rob Rossi sent a tweet out debunking a rumor I had not even heard, my fraudulent spider senses were tingling.

As in... Pascal Dupuis? Paul Martin? For Dany Heatley? What the hell is with the Heatley rumors, by the way?

What is the source of this rumor? That's where Jeremy stepped in and sent me to one of the King Morons. Here is the line of tweets the idiot sent out.

So, now we have:

• Heatley going to the Penguins
• Some package of Martin, Tyler Kennedy, Dupuis, and a first round pick coming back to the Wild
• Wild wanting more than the Jackets got for Rick Nash
• Three players, a first rounder, AND a prospect going back to the Wild

All this, within roughly 20 minutes. Within minutes, there was also this:

Not saying that an agent knows everything being discussed about their client, but I'm guessing if there were any sort of serious talks, Walsh would know.

Debunking the Rumor

Remember how to debunk a rumor? Let's do this.

Salary Cap

Tyler Kennedy has a cap hit of $2 million

Pascal Dupuis is at $1.5 million

Paul Martin is at $5 million

Combining the two highest paid players, and the two mentioned in the tweets from King Moron B, That's $7 million. The Wild were at about $770K in cap space as of yesterday, meaning that giving up Heatley's $7.5 coming off the books would actually give them more space than they had before. So, the cap hits actually work here.

Unless, of course, it is three roster players, not two mentioned in the tweets. Unless that third player makes less than $1.2 million, it doesn't work. Guessing if the "they want more than the Jackets got for Nash" line is true (none of this is), than taking a guy at less than $1.2 million doesn't seem likely.

Cap space gets a qualified pass.

Roster Space

Again, the Wild have 23 players signed to their 23 man roster. The Wild are looking to subtract one and add three more? That puts them two players over the limit. Who's going to Houston in this one, folks? You ready to send someone to Houston to make room for Pascal Dupuis?

It might... might make sense to make room for Kennedy, but is he an improvement over anything the Wild already have? 33 points last year. You tell me where he plays and produces more than the current roster members.

Roster space is a fail.

Available Contracts

The Wild have (yet again), according to Mike Russo, 49 contracts on the books, with a max of 50 available. So, if they are asking for three players, a prospect, and a first, they are now two contracts over the max. If that prospect is already playing in the AHL, three contracts over. There would need to be more movement for any of that to work.

Even if, by some chance, this was a two player for one deal, that maxes out the Wild, something GMs are loathe to do.

Available contracts is a fail.

No Trade Clauses

Anyone in this process have a NTC on the books? Oh yeah, Heatley does. If there were a team he might waive it for, it would be the Penguins. They are absolutely contenders, so why not, right? Well, Heatley spent the summer helping to recruit Parise and Suter. Why would he now want to leave?

Would he waive it? My bet is not a chance.

Oh, and looky here. Paul Martin has a NMC, with a limited NTC. Is Martin suddenly going to give up his perennial contender team to go to a team he spurned in free agency? I wouldn't put it past him, but again, I strongly doubt it.

No trade Clauses is a fail.

The Sniff Test

Ask yourself one question. Does this make sense?

There are way too many moving parts to this deal. First it is two players, then it is three. Then there is no prospect involved, then there is. The only consistency is the first round pick. The fact that it changes three times in the course of 20 minutes should be enough to make you question the story.

Does this make sense for either side? Are the Wild prepared to send Heatley packing after he helped them with recruiting Parise and Suter? Why would they do that?

Do the Penguins even want Heatley? Why? Why do they need a guy with a $7.5 million cap hit who scores 20 goals? Are they putting him on a line with Crosby? What's the upside here?

One of the tweets suggests that the Penguins (or is it King Moron B?) feel that Heatley has a "better resume" than Nash. Why is that exactly? Not to disparage Heatley, but he hasn't won anything. It's that simple. He has been in the playoffs, but has never won. Why is that different from Nash? Is losing in the playoffs better than never having been there? Why?

Finally, if you can put aside your fan tendencies, for just a second, and suspend the realities of contracts and such, why would the Wild turn down Martin, Kennedy, and a first round pick for Heatley? Seems like an awfully good deal for the Wild, to be honest. When one team comes out so far ahead, and neither GM is Howson, you have to assume someone isn't playing with the full deck.

The sniff test here is a definite fail.

End Result

How much fail do you need before you just start to laugh? This one makes no sense, just like all the ones before it, and those to come after it. The danger here? People are believing that the Wild passed on a deal that was never offered. That's not fair to the GMs, the players, the teams, nor the fans being duped.

It boggles the mind why this continues to suck people in.

If you see Wild rumors around the net, send us a link or a screen shot and we'll take them apart. This is just another service we provide here at Hockey Wilderness.