[Update] Bob McKenzie has NOT Reported the Stars Made an Offer for Heatley

[UPDATE by Brandon Worley, 06/29/09 2:33 PM EDT ] This was a rumor that was flying around all day, based on a bogus update by a fake Bob McKenzie Twitter account. I've wrote about this before, but the Dallas Stars are not going to trade such valuable and popular players like Ribeiro and Richards (two centers!) for a left winger with attitude problems.

Unfortunately, this sometimes happens with the expansion of new media and the way breaking news can spread insanely fast. It becomes a race to see who can break the news first, and we have to be careful not to believe everything we hear. It is our goal here at Defending Big D to ensure that any news we post has been verified and if it hasn't, we make sure it's known as a rumor only. We apologize for any confusion.
[End Update]

Not sure how this slipped past our radar.

But yesterday, maybe Bob McKenzie tweeted the following:

Dallas has offered a package of Ribeiro, Brunnstrom and Niskanen to Ott, but the Sens are concerned over Ribeiro's heavy price tag ($5mill)

[Update]: And maybe he didn't, as Art alerted me to via a direct message on Twitter.

There's still a good point to be made as to why this isn't a good idea.

And because my point about making trades during the off season still stands in regards to who has leverage in a deal like this.

As a general rule, anytime you are forced into trading a star player because they've made it publicly known they don't want to play for you anymore, you're not going to have the leverage in any deal. Just look at the NFL where Chicago got Jay Cutler pretty cheap from Denver this spring.

It's different when it's trade deadline day and potential suitors get desperate. In the offseason, there's very little reason to get desperate and sell the farm in a trade. That's why we have free agency.

And getting back to the serious side of things, I submit to you that Mike Ribeiro is more valuable to this offense than Heatley could ever hope to be.

Just as Brenden Morrow.

And if you're trying to lure a prospect like Jonas Gustavsson to your organization, it won't do you much good if you trade a player who is being used as a chip to recruit the talented Swedish goaltender.