One hails from Minnesota via New England and the other from the Pontiac region of Western Quebec, but they're cut from the same cloth, Brian Burke and Bryan Murray.

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When Brian Burke ripped into disgruntled Senators winger Dany Heatley during an NHL Live show on Wednesday, we can assume the Leafs GM was only saying what Brian Murray has been thinking.

Photograph by : National Post

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As NHL general managers, both prefer honest, hard-nosed hockey players.

Both had a hand in building the Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks of 2007, with Murray preceding Burke as Anaheim's GM (Al Coates was on the job for one year in between).

Both will share blunt thoughts with media, although Murray can do it without the media attention on which Burke thrives.

So, when Burke, now running the Toronto Maple Leafs operation, ripped into disgruntled Senators winger Dany Heatley during an NHL Live show on Wednesday, we can assume the Leafs GM was only saying what Murray has been thinking.

Who needs a player, even a proven 50-goal scorer, who doesn't want to be with the team anymore?

The difference is, Burke doesn't have to deal with Heatley and his trade request, so he can freely say no thanks to being in on any trade for No. 15.

This was a typical Burke diatribe. "I'm not kissing anyone's ass to play in my town, so to hell with you," he said in part.

Burke says he cautions any player who comes to him talking trade not to "finish the sentence," because there's no turning back. And he empathized with Murray.

"For a player to pop off and say he wants out or to leak it (to media), in my mind you are now no longer interested in your team," Burke said. "If you've done that, you've handicapped them, you've handcuffed your GM."

Maybe so, but Burke hasn't exactly done Murray any favours by "popping off" himself.

All those who continue to throw mud at Heatley -- it has practically become a game at a summer fair: "Hit the target with mud and win the stuffed poodle, step right up" -- make it tougher for Murray to find an attractive deal for both parties. The Senators and the Heatley camp.

It only takes one -- one team in need of a goal scorer, willing to part with assets, able to handle a $7.5-million U.S. salary cap hit for the next five seasons, in part by sending salary back to Ottawa.

(People keep talking about Heatley's $4-million bonus on July 1 as a major obstacle. But once it's paid, he only earns $4 million U.S. in salary for the season, so the challenge is more the timing of a lump sum than it is the total of $8 million for 2009-10. After all, he was paid $10 million by the Senators last season. If Heatley were a free agent, teams would have to deal with bonus money up front.)

It only takes one team, but it sure helps Murray get something approaching fair value for Heatley if he's considered an attractive commodity by two or three teams. That Heatley and his agents, J.P. Barry and Stacey McAlpine, have the right to approve or disapprove of any prospective destination through a no-movement clause is also limiting, but Murray has a card to play on that one.

"They've indicated some teams that they prefer," Murray told reporters during a conference to introduce the club's new executive this week. "I don't know that I'm going to be, at the end of the day, stuck to that list.

"If he doesn't want to be in Ottawa and there's another team that offers me a deal that I think is a better deal, then obviously I've got to put some pressure on them to accept that, or he may end up playing back here," Murray said.

"If the deal doesn't come down that we need to make, he'll have a choice at that point in time. I'm just not going to let him walk away for nothing."

He may end up playing back here, Murray said.

Imagine that circus scene.

Heatley forced to honour his Ottawa contract, surrounded by players he had thought he was leaving behind ... media having a field day with the dramatic tension ... fans still miffed at Heatley for wanting out.

It's a game of high-stakes poker Murray is playing when he shows that card. Probably a bluff. He wouldn't really consider bringing Heatley back to camp, would he?

Or would he?

Heatley's agents may or may not be interested in calling that bluff.

By being flexible regarding the number of teams they will allow in on it, Heatley's handlers improve the odds of getting a deal.

General managers tend to blame the messenger -- the agents -- when they're told a player wants out. An unhappy player? Get in line. They're paid to complain.

But when it gets this serious, it's better to blame the handlers for giving bad advice.

Murray calls Heatley "a great player," a "good guy," but wishes "he'd take some advice from our side as well as his side."

Both "sides" will be happier when all this sounding off evaporates in the face of a deal.