The Blast announced yesterday that it has placed standout midfielder Paul Wright on waivers instead of sending him to the San Diego Diego Sockers in a proposed trade that was set earlier in the day.

Wright, 33, became disgruntled after Kevin Healey was fired as coach earlier this month, saying the players should be held accountable for the team's poor start.

The midfielder, who leads the team in scoring with 24 points and ranks second in franchise career points (460) and assists (161), played in the Blast's first game under player/coach Sean Bowers and then sat out the next three games. The team is 3-8 overall, 1-3 under Bowers.

After the fallout, Wright said he planned to return to his hometown of San Diego whether he continued his career or not, leaving the Blast with little leverage in trading him.

Healey, who stayed on as general manager, had a trade seemingly finalized with the Sockers that would have brought the team a draft pick and future considerations, but Blast owner Ed Hale vetoed the deal.

"It was a power struggle, and basically, he got rid of his coach and then his leading scorer and the team's best player for nothing," Wright said.

Said Healey: "It's obviously not an ideal situation. When you have a player of the caliber of Paul Wright, you'd like to get something back for him. ... But Ed's decision was based on an issue of a player challenging the organization. If we weren't going to get a player in return, he didn't want to make the trade."