#128 - Dany Heatley

Dany Heatley (Murillo Pyramid Rank = #128)

Adjusted Stats

2001-2002   Atl          82 GP   31 goals   48 assists   79 points      0.96 PPG
2002-2003   Atl          77 GP   47 goals   56 assists   103 points    1.34 PPG
2003-2004   Atl          31 GP   16 goals   14 assists   30 points      0.96 PPG
2005-2006   Ott         82 GP   51 goals   54 assists    105 points   1.28 PPG
2006-2007   Ott         82 GP   53 goals   59 assists    112 points   1.37 PPG
2007-2008   Ott         71 GP   46 goals   46 assists    93 points     1.31 PPG
2008-2009   Ott         82 GP   42 goals   36 assists    78 points     0.95 PPG
2009-2010   SJ          82 GP   43 goals   47 assists    90 points     1.10 PPG
2010-2011   SJ          80 GP   29 goals   43 assists    72 points     0.90 PPG

Adjusted Playoff Stats

2005-2006   Ott         10 GP   3 goals     9 assists      12 points     1.19 PPG
2006-2007   Ott         20 GP   8 goals     17 assists    25 points     1.25 PPG
2007-2008   Ott         4 GP     0 goals     1 assist        1 point        0.26 PPG
2009-2010   SJ          14 GP   2 goals     10 assists    12 points     0.87 PPG
2010-2011   SJ          18 GP   3 goals     6 assists      9 points       0.50 PPG

Career - 669 GP, 358 goals, 403 assists, 762 points, 1.14 PPG
Career-Highs - 53 goals (06-07); 59 assists (06-07); 112 points (06-07); 1.37 PPG (06-07)
Avg. (9 seasons) - 74 GP, 40 goals, 45 assists, 85 points, 1.14 PPG
Peak Avg. (01-10) - 74 GP, 41 goals, 45 assists, 86 points, 1.17 PPG

Playoff Career - 66 GP, 16 goals, 43 assists, 59 points, 0.89 PPG
Playoff-Highs - 8 goals (06-07); 17 assists (06-07); 25 points (06-07); 1.25 PPG (06-07)

Accolades - Calder
All-Star Teams - 1-time 1st-team, 1-time 2nd-team
Has Not Won Stanley Cup

I remember well Dany Heatley playing in the All-Star game in his second season. He was enjoying a tremendous sophomore campaign (he'd finish with 103 points), and lived up to the hype in the otherwise dull All-Star game, scoring a hat trick and winning MVP honours. Heatley seemed so likeable and joyous...he had that awkward toothy smile and an infectious passion for scoring.

Fast forward to 2011. Heatley is unequivocally hated in two Canadian cities, Ottawa and Edmonton, and would probably be hated in Atlanta if they cared enough about hockey to have an opinion on the matter. He has fallen immensely in the school of public opinion, but through it all, he continues to score 40 goals and put up 90 points a season.

Part of the reason for the decline in Heatley's popularity is his involvement in the car accident that killed his teammate Dan Snyder. Although Snyder's family has forgiven Heatley, there's the sense among many fans that Heatley got away light for what should have been a serious drinking-and-driving charge, or at the very least one for reckless driving.

Unlike Kovalchuk, Heatley's teams haven't been abysmal failures (except in the early Atlanta days), but they have come up just short at key moments. The Ottawa Senators each year looked like a legitimate Cup contender in the regular season, and did make a run in 2007 to the final, but they were never quite able to get over the hump. Heatley put up very good numbers in the playoffs, but there was always that sense that when he was needed in a big game, he wouldn't appear. This reputation followed him when the 2006 Canadian Olympic team failed miserably, and Heatley was virtually invisible.

Heatley began to morph from a gee-whiz, enthusiastic kid into a surly, me-first prima donna. He demanded out of Ottawa after feeling that he wasn't getting enough power play time, ensuring that generations of Senators' fans would boo him for the rest of his career. Now he is with the team that is the Western Conference equivalent of the Sens...the San Jose Sharks. Like the Senators, they have an excellent first-line but not much else. And like the Sens, the Sharks have frustrated fans year after year by seemingly being poised to win the championship but coming up short.

In a way, Heatley's reputation may be cemented by the Youtube video that circulated with Adolf Hitler being told that Heatley had, in fact, refused a trade to the Edmonton Oilers. The classic line in that video is when Hitler's minions are attempting to pump up Heatley's abilities to score in clutch games, and they mention that he led the World Championships in scoring.

"Fuck the worlds!", Hitler says. "I could score a hat trick against fucking Belarus!!!"

And that's how I feel about Heatley: yes, the numbers are there, even in the playoffs, but one always gets the sense he piles on points in a 6-1 rout and then disappears when the clutch goal is needed. Maybe this is an unfair perception, and maybe Heatley will turn things around if he is able to win a Stanley Cup. But for now, Heatley has emerged as something of a talented villain at left-wing: he gets his points and enjoys success, but no one roots for him while he's doing it.

Postscript #1 (end of 2011 playoffs) - Heatley's reputation took as much of a beating as anyone in hockey during the 2011 season, with the possible exception of Roberto Luongo and Ilya Kovalchuk. He no-showed in the playoffs and was a legitimate reason why the Sharks had zero chance against the Canucks in the Conference finals. It all translated to him plummeting 20+ spots on my Pyramid, and threatening to fall off if his career doesn't turn around.