Dany Heatley
Dany Heatley was born in West Germany and certainly has one of the most painful and controversial histories out of all current NHL active players. Heatley was born in Germany to Murray and Karin Heatley as his Canadian father, Murray Heatley, was then playing in a German hockey league. His mother is German. When Murray retired from hockey, the family settled in Calgary. On September 29, 2003, Heatley was seriously injured after he lost control of the Ferrari he was driving struck a wall, splitting the car in half and ejecting him and his passenger, teammate Dan Snyder. Heatley suffered a broken jaw, a minor concussion, a bruised lung, bruised kidney, and tore three ligaments in his right knee. Snyder was critically injured with a skull fracture, fell into a coma and died six days later on October 5. Despite forgiveness from Dan Snyder's family, Heatley was charged with vehicular homicide as a result of the crash.Heatley returned to play 31 games later in the 2003-04 NHL season, scoring 25 points. Prior to the return of the NHL in 2005 after the lockout and still suffering from the reminders of his tragic accident, Heatley asked to be traded from Atlanta. On August 23rd, 2005 he was sent to the Ottawa Senators for Marian Hossa and Greg de Vries. Since the trade, Heatley has appeared in every single Senators game, both of the regular season and playoffs, totaling 194 consecutive games as of the end of the 2007 playoffs. He has lead the Senators in scoring in that time, notching 110 goals and 242 points. He leads all players in regular season goalscoring since the lockout. Including the playoffs, Heatley is second to only Joe Thornton in post-lockout point scoring.Heatley is the only Thrasher to be awarded the Calder Memorial Trophy in franchise history. He recorded the most points by a rookie (67) for any Thrasher in franchise history. Heatley also became the first Senator in franchise history to reach the 50 goal mark. His proficiency at scoring big goals makes him an impact player on the Senators and helped complete one of the best playoff lines of the 2006-2007 post-season. Heatley has an incredible shot and can find the back of the net from just about anywhere. He uses his skill to create opportunities for others, but he's one of the first to shoot the puck. When Heatley gets an open shot, opposing goaltenders barely stand a chance. He is an offensive dynamo that will certainly have a prosperous career in the league.
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