OTTAWA - The current battle between Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk and superstar Dany Heatley could set the emotional level for the National Hockey League's next round of contract talks.

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San Jose Sharks winger Dany Heatley.

Photograph by : Getty Images

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The NHL has served the NHL Players' Association a grievance over a $4-million US signing bonus Melnyk had to pay Heatley on July 1 after the disgruntled forward refused a trade to the Edmonton Oilers.

Melnyk wants his money back. He thinks Heatley should have accepted the trade.

Heatley, who demanded a trade, had a no-movement clause in his contract, which did give him the right to veto a trade. Melnyk might be stuck by the very contract he approved for Heatley.

However, at the time the possibility of a grievance was first raised in early July, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said there are "strong grounds upon which a claim can be pursued. The Ottawa franchise believes it has been damaged."

It certainly didn't help the Senators to have the Heatley affair hanging over their heads all summer because the uncertainty slowed ticket sales.

Whether Milan Michalek and Jonathan Cheechoo, the players the Senators received from the San Jose Sharks in the eventual trade for Heatley, are better or worse attractions than the players the Senators would have received from the Oilers - Andrew Cogliano, Dustin Penner and Ladislav Smid - is another question.

Heatley seemed unperturbed about the grievance. Approached by a reporter from the San Jose Mercury News after practice Tuesday, Heatley said he was "focused on hockey" and declined to comment.

A complicating factor is that this dispute may draw other teams into its orbit. There were plenty of rumours of attempted side deals involving other teams as the Heatley trade talks dragged on all summer. They could conceivably result in charges of tampering.

If getting the answers to those questions becomes part of the grievance process, there could be some considerable discomfort.

Senators general manager Bryan Murray maintains that Heatley's agents granted permission to speak to the Oilers, but then reneged once the deal was made.

"They implied that I didn't have permission to speak with Edmonton," Murray said.

"Three times on the weekend I told them that I was talking to Edmonton and I asked them if I could continue talking. They said that, yes, I could."

Whether there was interference to prompt the Heatley camp to renege will be a question the Senators will want answered.

How, or even when, this dispute will play out is anyone's guess. No one was tipping his hand after the news of the grievance, which was filed last summer, leaked on Tuesday.

The league and the NHLPA confirmed that the grievance had been filed, but wouldn't comment further. Melnyk and Murray weren't commenting, saying the matter was now in the hands of the league.

And neither of Heatley's agents, J.P. Barry and Stacey McAlpine, immediately returned phone messages.

While never closing the door on a grievance during the summer, Melnyk sounded as if he didn't have a lot of hope of ever seeing his $4 million again.

"When I do a deal on a napkin or a handshake or a 150-page document, it doesn't matter," he said during a July interview on The Fan 590 in Toronto. "I stick by my word, I stick by my signature, I stick by my handshake, and you go ahead and do it, and you expect the other side to be there because you've done your side of the bargain.

"You just bite your tongue and you sign the cheque, and let it play out."

The filing of a grievance doesn't mean the two sides can't settle on their own, but with the NHLPA set to defend Heatley's interests, it looks as if this will end up on the plate of an impartial arbitrator.

When it might reach that stage wasn't clear on Tuesday.