Dany Heatley Biography
Present
Dany Heatley is a professional NHL Ice Hockey player who currently plays for the Minnesota Wild and is an Alternate Captain.
Early Life and Atlanta Thrashers
Dany was born in Freiburg, West Germany on the 21st January 1981 (30 Years Old) to Karin and Murray Heatley. Dany is the eldest of two children. His younger brother is called Mark. Dany’s mother, Karin, comes from Germany and his father, Murray, from Canada. Murray met Karin whilst he was playing professional Ice Hockey. When his father retired the family moved to Calgary, Canada. Dany has dual Canadian/German citizenship but plays for the Canadian National Hockey Team.
It was obvious from a young age that Dany was destined for great things. By the time Dany was drafted by the Atlanta Thrashers in 2000 he had already made his mark. Dany made the choice not to go into the NHL until a year later.
Tragedy
Dany had only been playing professional hockey for two seasons before tragedy struck.
On September 29th, September 2003 Dany was involved in a horrific car accident which also involved team-mate and close friend Dan Snyder. Dany lost control of his Ferrari 360 Modena and crashed into a iron fence and brick wall.
Dany was the lucky one, only suffering a broken jaw, minor concussion, bruised lung, bruised kidney, and three torn ligaments in his right knee. Dan Snyder, however, wasn’t so lucky. He suffered a skull fracture and died on the 5th October 2003. Dany was charged with vehicular homicide.
Trade and Eye Injury
Dany asked for a trade from the Thrashers and was traded to the Ottawa Senators on the 23rd August, 2005 although during the lockout of 2004-05 Dany played for the Swiss team SC Bern. Whilst playing in Switzerland he suffered an injury and required surgery for a broken orbital bone after being struck in the left eye with a puck. The pupil in his left eye became permanently dilated as a result. He finished the year with AK Bars Kazan of the Russian Superleague.
Ottawa Senators and trade to the San Jose Sharks
Dany spent 4 years (2005-2009) with the Ottawa Senators. Dany is best known for being part of a young and high scoring line consisting of Dany, Daniel Alfredsson and Jason Spezza. Dany and the Senators went on the Stanley Cup Finals during the 2006-07 season where they lost to the Anaheim Ducks. A year later on October 3rd 2008 Dany was named an alternate captain to the Senators.
By June 9th 2009 Dany had, had enough. Reports by TSN announced that Dany had filed for a trade from the Senators. It was and still is to a degree unclear of the precise reasons Dany filed for a trade but during an interview Dany said that he was unhappy with the reduced amount of ice time that he was being given by coach Cory Clouston.
Trading Dany wasn’t an easy task as Dany’s huge $7.6 million contract (For the 2009-2010 season) meant that a lot of teams didn’t have enough salary cap room to meet the requirements of Dany’s contract. On June 30th a deal was put in place to send Dany to the Edmonton Oilers for Andrew Cogliano, Dustin Penner and Ladislav Smid but Dany refused to waive his no trade clause. This caused fans in both Edmonton and Ottawa very upset. Eventually on the 12th September 2009, almost 3 months after Dany initially filed for a trade, Dany was traded to the San Jose Sharks for Milan Michalek, Jonathan Cheechoo and a Second Round 2010 Pick.
2010 Winter Olympics, San Jose Sharks and Stanley Cup Playoffs
Dany had a lot of success with the Sharks after being placed on the line with Joe Thornton with whom Dany has played along side during Team Canada games. During the 2010 Winter Olympics Team Canada won Olympic gold. Dany was one of the medallists (Along with fellow Sharks team-mates Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Dan Boyle) During the Sharks home opener against the Columbus Blue Jackets Dany topped off a hat trick with a penalty shot goal. On the 20th November Dany scored yet another hat trick from passes all made by Joe Thornton showing the close on ice chemistry the two players had. Unfortunatley the Sharks were knocked out of the 2010 Conference Finals by the Chicago Blackhawks.
Injuries during Playoffs and Low Point Total
It was revealed later on, by Sharks Head Coach Todd McLellan, that Dany had been playing the entire playoffs with a torn groin muscle. Sadly the next season showed the worst points total of Dany’s whole career. It was revealed that Dany had been suffering from multiple injuries.
Trade to the Minnesota Wild
On July 3rd 2011 Dany was traded to the Minnesota Wild for Martin Havlat where Dany was to join Sharks team-mate Devin Setoguchi who had been traded to the Wild a mere 10 days before. The trade to the Minnesota Wild marks the 3rd time Dany has been traded, The fourth team Dany has played on and the first time Dany has been traded without asking for it.
Endorsements
Dany is endorsed by Easton and exclusively uses Easton equipment during games.
(Source: Wikipedia)
