Heatley is a solid pick up to help us now and help us rebuild as well. He gives us a pure scorer that we desperately need. Since his contract only has 3 more years on it, we can use him as our star with Koivu as our assists man in the now. That gives us time to get all of the young guys we have into the league and to play a year or two with Heatley and Koivu. Then when these young guys are getting into their primes, we will have a young team with experience as most of our current players start to fade out. It's hard to plan more than 2 years in the future cause so much can change (Lockout next year?) but I think it was a smart move for present and future of the franchise.
I agree with you, but I find it extremely unprobable that there is a lockout next year. We all saw the NBA and NFL lockout coming, no one players or owners want to see another lockout and lose another season and that's why they will be extemely flexible to giving and taking for a new deal.