Gene Principe

Dustin Penner has been Edmonton's top player by far this season.

It has been a dismal season in Edmonton but if the Oilers traded for Heatley it may have been worse.

It was early in the season when many, like myself, wrote about the trade that never happened between Ottawa and Edmonton. You remember the three-for-one deal involving Dany Heatley for Andrew Cogliano, Dustin Penner and Ladislav Smid? Now as the season comes to a close, I feel it's appropriate to revisit the topic if only to make a Penner-Heatley comparison.

Not to totally forget about Cogliano whose been hot with 10 points in his last 14 games or Smid who was becoming a solid shutdown defenceman before his season came to a premature end because of neck surgery. However let's get back to Penner and Heatley as the NHL heads into it's final weekend of the regular season.

Penner had 32 goals and 31 assists. Heatley, 39 scores to go along with 42 helpers. On the surface it looks like Heatley has had the better season but the argument is easily made that it's not the case. Dustin Penner has been a better player than Dany Heatley this season.

Let's break it down by starting with line-mates. Penner has had numerous centremen and wingers -- enough to lose count because of injuries, illness and production. Heatley has been with the same two guys -- you may know them as Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau -- for almost the entire season including the Olympics.

The Oilers winger has scored 15.4 percent of Edmonton's 208 goals. The Sharks winger has scored 14.9 percent of San Jose's 281 goals.

Heatley has 11 more assists but when Penner passes the puck the highest goal-scoring teammate is Gilbert Brule with 17. When Heatley passes the puck he has a 20-goal scorer in Thornton to the middle and a 43-goal marksman on the other side in Marleau. The Sharks also have a 25-goal scorer and two 19-goal scorers.

If you take it another step and factor in plus-minus. Penner is plus-8 on a team that has allowed 66 more goals than they've scored. Heatley is plus-14 but the Sharks have scored 48 more goals then they've given up. That's a 114 goal difference and Heatley is only 6 better in the plus-minus department.

I haven't even compared teams yet. Edmonton is last overall with 60 points SJ is first in the West with 111 points. That's a 51-point swing from Penner's club to Heatley's and consider the cost: Penner's salary cap hit is over $3 million less than Heatley's.

This truly isn't meant as a disparaging article regarding Heatley. There's no doubt he's had a good year but if the numbers above tell you anything it would be that Penner has had a great year.