SHARKSPAGE

Dany Heatley’s return to Ottawa spawning Lebron-esque fury in parts of Canada

SHARKS RW DANY HEATLEY RETURNS TO OTTAWA TONIGHT

OTTAWA CITIZEN FRONT PAGE FOR DANY HEATLEY'S RETURN

OTTAWA SUN "SUCK IT UP" FRONT PAGE ON DANY HEATLEY

“I loved the fans (in Ottawa), because they always treated me well,” – Dany Heatley told reporters this morning.

“(Akron’s) not far, but it is far. And Clevelanders, because they were the bigger-city kids when we were growing up, looked down on us.… So we didn’t actually like Cleveland. We hated Cleveland growing up. There’s a lot of people in Cleveland we still hate to this day,” Lebron James to GQ magazine in September.

Life has an interesting way of drawing its own parallels. Today former Senators forward Dany Heatley returns to Ottawa on the same day Lebron James returns to face his former team in Cleveland, but their situations could not be more different. While one player under contract loved his city, behind closed doors he reached a breaking point with his former team and demanded a trade. The other player took his journey towards free agency to the biggest stage in North America for a one-hour primetime special on ESPN, embarassing his former fans on a continuous loop that has yet to die down. Fans in Ottawa and Cleveland will not parse the particulars. Instead they will zero in on their respective persona non gratas for about as cathartic a three hours as is possible in modern professional sports.

“One of the reasons was my role on the team and where I was fitting in,” Heatley told the Ottawa Citizen this morning about demanding a trade. “I have a bigger role in San Jose than I did in my last year in Ottawa.”

What is startling about that role is how it changed upon his arrival in San Jose, or at least how the perception of that role changed. Prior to his trade on September 12, 2009 along with a 2010 fifth round draft pick (Isaac Macleod) for Milan Michalek, Jonathan Cheechoo, and a 2010 second round draft pick (traded for Andy Sutton), the Ottawa media derided Heatley as selfish, noted alleged problems with three coaches, scorned his defensive play, on and on. None of that came to fruition with the Sharks.

In San Jose, a Presidents’ Trophy winning squad that bowed out of the playoffs in the first round against hated rival Anaheim, Dany Heatley was allowed to simply play hockey. In his first two years as a Shark, Heatley started the season with a different line combination before being moved with to the “Big Three” line with Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau. His defensive play was far from polished, but it was consistent and he added a mean streak that was sorely needed. There were no problems with second year head coach Todd McLellan, in fact the German born Canadian took an on-ice leadership role holding opposing players and officials accountable on controversial plays, something the Sharks have not always done in the past. His shot and 6-foot-4, 220-pound frame were perfectly suited for McLellan’s net front philosphy 5-on-5 and with the man advantage.

A significant leg injury hobbled Heatley in the playoffs, but the forward was comfortable enough this offseason to star in a local hockey commerical featuring his bounced first pitch at a SF Giants game, something that was unfathomable considering his treatment by the media in Ottawa only a year earlier.

Thursday night Dany Heatley will face the brunt of fan angst, but like Antero Niittymaki’s successful performance agaisnt his former team Tampa Bay, and Antti Niemi’s manhandling of his former Stanley Cup winning team Chicago, the San Jose Sharks will be pushing hard to give #15 a positive outcome. “I think it’ll fire the guys up a little bit, I know I’m a little extra excited to win the game for him. He’s a great teammate. He’s very well-liked in this dressing room,” San Jose Sharks defenseman Douglas Murray told ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun.

LeBrun also spoke with Ottawa Senators GM Bryan Murray, who answered questions about how much the trade set back the franchise. Left unasked were how much the constant leaks by team officials, and how much internal team machinations played a part. It was something that lead to significant trade rumors this summer for the other team pillar, Jason Spezza. Also left unmentioned, Ottawa was put in a difficult position trying to trade Heatley when Edmonton and the New York Rangers moved in other directions. Days before the trigger was pulled by San Jose EVP/GM Doug Wilson, a debunked 3-team deal involving, Heatley, former Sharks captain Patrick Marleau, Alexander Frolov and Jarret Stoll was announced as completed on ESPN, and on the largest sports radio station in the Bay Area (KNBR).

The situation left a lasting negative impression for the Ottawa media and the Ottawa Senators, something that will not improve with the Ottawa Sun’s decision to offer do-it-yourself Heatley pacifier masks in today’s paper. Also from Ottawa’s Team 1200AM station, which has been a surreal listen today, comes this Ode to Dany which lacks any musical talent but makes creative use of an air horn.

[Update] San Jose Sharks’ Dany Heatley braces for boos from jilted Senators fans – San Jose Mercury News.

“If you want to modify the old saying, you can say, ‘Hell hath no fury like a Canadian hockey city scorned,’ ” said Bob McKenzie, longtime hockey analyst for TSN, the Canadian sports TV network. “And a smaller-market Canadian city — either Ottawa or Edmonton — they tend to be even more intense in their civic pride.”

[Update2] Video of Dany Heatley’s morning press conference with the media from the Ottawa Citizen.

[Update3] If you can’t stand the Heatley – Roy MacGregor for the Globe and Mail.

Dany Heatley screwed up the federal by-elections. Dany Heatley is causing area house prices to drop. Dany Heatley is behind this week-long spit that passes for weather around here…

Welcome to Ottawa on Dany Heatley Day in the nation’s capital, the day the San Jose Sharks’ leading scorer gets blamed for, as the Bible might put it, every little sparrow that falls.