The Atlanta Thrashers acquired Slovakian forward Marian Hossa from the Ottawa Senators for Dany Heatley on Tuesday, a blockbuster deal requested by Heatley less than two years after he was blamed for an automobile crash that killed a teammate.
The teams swapped high-scoring right wingers on the same day Hossa agreed to a three-year, US$18 million contract with the Senators, avoiding salary arbitration.
The 24-year-old Heatley combined with Ilya Kovalchuk to give the Thrashers two of the NHL's most prized young players.
The Thrashers also received defenseman Greg de Vries.
Heatley's best season was 2002-2003, when he had 41 goals and 48 assists. He has been plagued by misfortune since then, most tragically when he was driving a car involved in a high-speed crash that killed teammate Dan Snyder.
Heatley went to the Thrashers a couple of weeks ago and requested the trade.
"Over the course of time, we experienced some unfortunate incidents and encountered some challenging issues," his agent, Stacey McAlpine, said in a telephone interview from Calgary. "I think it was a combination of several things that slowly, over time, led us to the decision that it might be in everybody's best interests to work together to try to find a new opportunity, a new home, a new place to play."
McAlpine said contract negotiations contributed to the decision but were not a major factor.
"Certainly, some of those issues were more important than others," he said. "Ultimately, this decision for us wasn't so much of a business decision. It was more of a life decision."
Heatley sustained a serious knee injury in the wreck that caused him to miss 51 games the following season. He returned to tally 13 goals and 12 assists in 31 games, but was injured again while playing in Switzerland during the lockout.
Shohei Ohtani on Wednesday homered for the fifth consecutive game, tying a Los Angeles Dodgers franchise record. Yankees star Aaron Judge was the last player to homer in five consecutive games, accomplishing that feat last year. Ohtani, who leads the National League with 37 home runs, homered in the first inning off Minnesota Twins starter Chris Paddack. He hit a slow curveball 134m to center. He carried the bat midway down the first-base line and then did a bat flip. He did not hit a home run later in the game with the Dodgers trailing, but his presence was felt. With two outs
Taiwan’s world No. 6 shuttler Chou Tien-chen yesterday defeated India’s H.S. Prannoy to advance to the quarter-finals of the China Open in Changzhou. It was former world No. 2 Chou’s eighth win in 14 matches against Prannoy, who had earlier this week lamented the age divide between him and up-and-comers, although he is only two years younger than 35-year-old Chou. The Taiwanese, who is seeded sixth at the tournament, rebounded from a close 21-18 loss in game 1 on Court 2 at the Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium. He bounced back to take the next games 21-15, 21-8 and set up a tough quarter-final
Ben O’Connor won Thursday’s monster Alpine stage to the ski resort of Courchevel as three-time Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar responded to attacks from Jonas Vingegaard and dropped him to cement his grip on the yellow jersey. With just three stages left before the race ends in Paris, Pogacar looks poised to retain his title, with a comfortable lead of more than 4 minutes over Vingegaard, a two-time champion. Stage 18 featured three extremely difficult ascents, including the 26.4km climb of the Col de La Loze to the finish. At 2,304m, La Loze is the highest summit in this year’s Tour. Two
The Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday acquired Taiwanese-American outfielder Stuart Fairchild from the Atlanta Braves for cash considerations to fill the roster after All-Star second baseman Brandon Lowe was placed back on the injured list. Fairchild was designated for assignment by the Braves on Monday after hitting .216/.273/.333 in 28 games for Atlanta, with most of his work coming as a pinch runner or defensive replacement. He joins Tampa Bay as a versatile fourth outfielder option. To make room for Fairchild on the 40-man roster, the Rays transferred relief pitcher Manuel Rodriguez (forearm strain) from the 15-day injured list to the 60-day
RSS