many of the idiot fans will be appeased by a change of captaincy (but a band-aid doesn't stop choking last i checked), so i think either they'll hand the c to thornton (dumb), boyle (meh), pavelski (too soon), or blake (i'm ok with that one actually), or they'll give it right back to patty at the end of camp and then they can say, "see? we made him earn it this time... now shut your holes."
i doubt patty get traded. patty seems unlikely to be willing to waive his ntc. he's got a wife and 2 kids, he's played for one team his whole life, and he's likely to sign at a bit of discount next year, which the sharks would be dumb not to take advantage of. he's a private guy and would probably hate moving to a team like montreal (which is where a lot of the trade rumors put him), where he'll be under a media microscope. most teams would have to give up too much to get him anyway.
i'd like to have heatley, but not at the cost of patty. send ottawa cheech/milan, murray, and a pick/prospect, and it's all good, but bryan murray seems to be asking a bit much and not understanding that he's in a precarious position and needs to unload heater. i guess we'll see what happens.