August 23rd marks the 2nd year anniversary of the Dany Heatley/Marian Hossa/Greg deVries trade. This will be a two part blog on that blockbuster deal. The blogs will be broken up into two parts. The first part will be about Dany Heatley and his place with Atlanta Thrashers fans before the trade to his first game in Atlanta after the trade. The second part will be about Marian Hossa and his place with Thrashers fans for the past two seasons.
Heatley was drafted second overall in the 2000 draft. He would not arrive until the 2001-2002 season, season 3 for the expansion Thrashers. He was the Thrashers first bona fide star pick, as the 1999 draft left much to be desired for the Thrashers. Dany would join the Thrashers with 2001 first overall pick, Ilya Kovalchuk. Immediately, the two young guns’ images would be on any and all promotional items having to do with the team. After his Calder winning rookie season, it became obvious that the team had its leader for the future in Heatley and scorer for the future in Kovalchuk. So in the 2002 draft, Atlanta was able to choose its goalie of the future, Kari Lehtonen. The 2002-03 season was a huge year for Dany in Atlanta. He had the best All-Star performance of this decade, and was given the “A” in only his second year on the team. Bob Hartley also joined the team this season in January. Thrashers fans knew it was just a matter of time before this team was going to become a force to be reckoned with for years to come.
The Heatley / Kovalchuk relationship was that of the Odd Couple, but it worked. Roommates on the road, and friends at home, it was obvious that these two superstars could coexist on this team. Between the fans, the Heatley or Kovalchuk discussion was a friendly one brought up each and every game. It was hockey’s equivalent of the Miller Lite ad. Less filling. Taste’s great. Heatley officially sold me on March 17th, 2003. He scored this last second game winning goal which I had the pleasure to see in person.
Copy and paste the link below to watch.
mms://wm.nhlteams.speedera.net/wm.nhlteams/teams/ATL/heatly_last_second_goal_300.wmv
After this season finished, for a Thrashers fan, it was probably the most exciting summer for the Thrashers. Everyone felt that the upcoming season (2003-2004) would be one to put the Thrashers on the hockey map. Unfortunately, we would find our place on the map for all the wrong reasons. On September 29th, 2003, the Atlanta Thrashers held a Face-Off event for season ticket holders at Philips Arena. This is where the team gets introduced. Autograph sessions are done as well as locker room tours. It is kind of like hockey’s version of a pep rally. I was at this event. It is an indescribable feeling to go back and look at the pictures of myself with Dany Heatley, myself with Dan Snyder and myself in front of Dan Snyder’s locker. When it came down between Dany Heatley and Ilya Kovalchuk, as I stated before, I leaned toward Heatley. When it came to favorite overall player, Dan Snyder was my favorite. So to wake up on September 30th to the news of the accident seemed a bit surreal. I remember heading to work, getting to my desk, and just being in a haze.
After Dan passed, I think every Thrashers fan had nothing but the best wishes for Dany and a quick return. Dany returned to the ice on January 28, 2004. It kind of looked like a WWE match with the amount of welcome back Dany signs and posters. Not to mention, the reception Atlanta fans game him when he it the ice was deafening. The Thrashers tied that night. Unfortunately, the Thrashers would lose the next 6 games. This knocked the Thrashers from playoff contention after they led the SE Division as late as December. Heatley had 25 points in 31 games. This was encouraging, as we thought Dany could return to form.
Dany spent most of the off season in Canada with his family, which would be expected after everything that happened. Then, summer turned to fall, and the lockout of the 2004-05 was on. Thrashers fans, like all hockey fans, were truly disappointed. We thought we’d have Pasi Nurminen in net backed up by Kari Lehtonen, and we could get a fresh start. This was never to be. Thrashers fans suffered another scare when Dany suffered an eye injury while playing during the lockout. His dilated eye is a result of this injury. Dany had 28 pts in 27 European / Russian league games. This showed that Dany could be taking up where he left off before the accident.
Once the lockout was resolved the Thrashers began to add pieces to the squad. The fans were excited over the signing of Bobby Holik. Arguably, the biggest name free agent the team had signed until then. Everyone felt all the pieces were coming together, and once again fans thought the Thrashers could prove for the first time that they would be a force to be reckoned with this season (2005-2006). All we had to do is get Ilya Kovalchuk, who was a RFA, under contract and the Thrashers are looking toward the SE Division championship. Then, August 23rd happened. The initial reaction was how could Don Waddell trade him? This was our future leader. After that season, it was thought Scott Mellanby would retire and Dany could take over as captain depending on how he did that year. Then, it was announced that Heatley had requested the trade followed by the Heatley press statement. This was the only item released to the Atlanta media. Dany didn’t do any Atlanta interviews. The next thing Atlanta fans are hearing is statements along the lines of how he is glad to be in Ottawa and out of Atlanta. This, combined with Hossa’s silence about the trade and rumors that Heatley had requested a release instead of a trade, left Thrashers fans in a state of shock. Any Thrashers fan that has been around before the accident was more than attached to Dany in your typical fan way. We had supported him on the ice, and it became a whole different level of support, when the accident happened off the ice.
I know it is hard to explain what Thrashers fans were going through, but imagine if something similar, God forbid, happened in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh is a team with a great young Canadian talent in Crosby and a great young Russian talent in Malkin. Imagine an incident with Crosby, where his off the ice for a while. Then after he returns to the ice, Sidney Crosby asks for a trade, leaves the town that was banking on him to lead the team, leaves only a press release, and does nothing but talk up the team he is going to, forgetting the team he had just left much too quickly. All this happening, with no additional time spent in the area. No way for the fans to say we are moving on with you. Just a Dear John letter left on a website. With this said, I think every Atlanta Thrashers fan is pulling for Dany as a person, but the days after the trade, as quickly as Dany severed the ties with Atlanta, a lot of the fans severed the ties with him as a player.
This severing was more evident than ever the night in January 2006 that Dany Heatley returned to Atlanta. Some fans had chanted for Hossa. Some fans had booed Dany every time he touched the puck. Some fans had tears welling up in their eyes. Most fans had a combination of the three. The fans wanted to make sure, in the only way we could, that Dany got the message of which players we were rooting for on the ice. Ironically, the only atmosphere that had been close to that night was for Dany Heatley’s return from his injury. This was the night we moved on and got past Dany Heatley. Which as fans we needed to do, because it is not healthy to look back and say, “What if?” This night, as fans, we got over a lot of our, “What ifs?” I think all the fans in Atlanta are, in more ways then one, moving toward the attitude of, “Good luck Dany Heatley. This is, of course, except when you play against us.”
Next, Marian Hossa, an Atlanta Thrasher, stay tuned.
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