Dany Heatley traded to the Sharks.

Former Wisconsin Badgers star Dany Heatley has finally been traded. From looking at the deal it would appear that that Senators got a whole lot better because they got rid of a potential locker room cancer and got two pretty good players in left-winger Milan Michalek and right-winger Jonathan Cheechoo. Also it's hard to imagine in the days of the salary cap that Joe Thornton and Dany Heatly are on the same team, that is going to make the Sharks the beast in the west. Heatley also joins former Badger Joe Pavelski.

OTTAWA — As soon as Ottawa Senators general manager Bryan Murray talked to Dany Heatley on Friday, he knew he had to trade the disgruntled left-winger.

Heatley was so adamant about being moved that Murray knew he couldn’t have him around poisoning the dressing room. Nothing was going to make Heatley change his mind and Murray knew it.

“When I looked him in the eye, I knew the minute he walked out the door that I had to trade him,” said Murray.

“I didn’t think there was any chance. I just felt that we had to move him. As I said to (Senators captain) Daniel Alfredsson, ‘What we should care about here is the core of this hockey team and how we can help the guys become a competitive team again.’ ”

Alfredsson had also come to the same conclusion. He and defenceman Chris Phillips had sat down to talk with Heatley about his frame of mind coming into camp. Alfredsson left knowing there was nothing he could do or say to change Heatley’s mind.

“He was pretty clear about his stance,” said Alfredsson.

So Murray talked to Senators owner Eugene Melnyk and told him that, for the sake of the team, he had to trade Heatley for whatever he could get.

Murray landed left-winger Milan Michalek, 24, right-winger Jonathan Cheechoo, 29, and a second-round draft pick next year for Heatley and a 2010 fifth-round pick