Calgary product will hear his name called early today

Oh Dany boy — the bigs, the bigs are calling.

Dany Heatley, the Calgary product who turned heads during the world junior hockey championship in Sweden last December, and just completed his rookie college season at the University of Wisconsin, is poised to make local history’ today at the National Hockey League draft table.

Heatley, 19, has been ranked No. 1 among North American skaters all winter by the NHL’s Central Scouting Bureau. If that projection pans out, or even if he slips one notch, the six-foot-three, 210-pound left winger would become the most coveted Calgarian in NHL entry draft history — ahead of the Medicine Hat Tigers’ Neil Brady, who was nabbed third overall by the New Jersey Devils in 1986.

A strong crop of Euro ean talent, headlined by Russi in forwards Pavel Vorobiev, Mikhail Yakubov and Alexei Smirnov, clouds the picture heading into the first three rounds of the 2000 NHL entry draft today at the Canadian Airlines Saddledome, beginning at to a.m.

But the consensus seems clear. Heatley, the former ’AAA’ midget Calgary Buffalo and junior A’ Calgary Canuck, has NHL written all over him.

“He’s one of those players who makes something happen out of nothing,” observed Milt Fisher, Western Canadian and Western U.S.-based scout for the Stanley Cup champion Devils. “One way or another, he comes through under pressure and in the big games. He’s got great lateral movement and vision of the ice.

“I had the pleasure of watching Mike Modano play junior hockey (Fisher was the Prince Albert Raiders’ director of player personnel in the early 1980s). and this gentleman comes close to doing the kind of things Modano could do”

Brad Robson. the Calgary-based Western Canadian scout for the Stanley Cup finalist Dallas Stars, watched Heatley all the way from peewee up to his 1998-99 campaign with the Canucks, and was sold a long time ago.

“His play around the net is so far ahead of the rest of this draft, just because of his stick skills, hockey smarts, and play coming out of the comers. It’s outstanding,” said Robson. “He’s a natural goal scorer, and with guys like that, everything’s in slow motion for them when they get the puck around the net.”

As for the two perceived weaknesses in Heatley’s game — his skating and his play in traffic — Fisher and Robson disagree.

“I sure hope there are ?i or 22 other teams who think that though.” chuckled Fisher.

“His skating right now is good enough to play in tire NHL. For him to be an elite player, it’s going to have to improve, but that will come with maturity’ and time,” added Robson.

“As for the traffic, I really noticed that during the last half of his year with the Canucks, he had no problems.

“In fact, he made some very good plays in traffic, and down low, and along the wall.”

Noted veteran Canucks head coach Don Phelps, who’s been invited to today’s draft by Heatley: “Usually, it’s a long, boring day, but I know I’m not going to spend too much time there — because he ain’t going to be standing around long, is he?

“I’m not going to sit here and say I knew he was going to be a high first-round pick. Of course I didn’t. But I knew he had the ingredients to be a great player. Attitude, to me, is almost everything when you’ve got God-given skill to go along with it.”

Said Heatley: “If you’re in this position, I think anyone would want to go No. i. But if you look at it realistically, those top four or five spots are great situations and I’d be happy with any one of those.”

Heatley was named the Western Collegiate Hockey Association’s 1999-2000 rookie of the year, helping the Badgers to a WCHA crown and finishing second in team scoring with 28 goals and 56 points over 35 games.

Heatley really put himself on the map in this country, however, during the 2000 world junior tournament at Skelleftea, Sweden — emerging from relative obscurity, shaking off the junior A’ stigma, and helping lead Canada to a bronze medal.

Heatley ended up tied for third in Canadian scoring with two goals and two assists over seven games, not including his goal against Philippe Sauve in a shootout against the United States that clinched bronze for Canada.

During the 1998-99 campaign with the Canucks, “you had to do something pretty amazing at the junior ‘A’ level to get noticed,” said Heatley, who’s been busy all week being interviewed by various NHL clubs.

“I had a great year in the Alberta Junior Hockey League, and I was still kind of regarded as second-class. This year at the world juniors, I think I showed by the end of the tournament I could play, and that I was pretty solid.”

The tenacity and fiery-eyed determination that Heatley exhibited with the junior Nats and the Badgers this season were his trademarks while rising through the ranks of local midget and junior hockey.

Heatley first gained true national recognition at the 1997-1998 Air Canada Cup in Sudbury, Ont., where the Buffaloes won a bronze medal at the annual Canadian AAA’ midget championship.

Heatley, who’d already won the Alberta AAA’ Midget Hockey League scoring title that winter with 39 goals, 52 assists and 91 points over 36 regular-season games, was named Air Canada Cup tournament MVP and scoring champion.

“When he played, he was snarly,” recalled Mark Frank, who coached Heatley during his year with the Buffaloes. “He was always a hard-nosed kid who would do anything it took to score. You find that in all the better players.

“They’ve just got that attitude that says: ‘I’m going to get this done. It might not be this shift, but it’s going to get done.’ ”

The following season, in 1998-99, Heatley turned the AJHL on its ear as a Canucks rookie forward.

Heatley ran away with the league’s scoring derby, notching 70 goals and 126 points in 60 contests and becoming the first AJHL player to hit the 70-goal plateau since Red Deer Rustlers teammates Doug Rigler and Brent Sutter both did it back in 1979-80.

Heatley was virtually unstoppable as the Canucks rolled to their AJHL record ninth league championship, scoring 22 goals and 13 helpers in 13 games — including three hat tricks as the Canucks swept the St. Albert Saints in four straight during the league final.

“The biggest thing is his attitude. He loves to compete,” said Phelps. “I think it was one of those baseball greats, like Dizzy Dean or Pee Wee Reese, who said: ‘If you sez it, and does it, it ain’t bragging.’

“He is totally focused from the moment he hits that ice. You can’t teach that personality. I think he enjoys it when he’s got a guy hanging on him: ‘That’s fine. Hang on, because I’m going to score anyway.’ ”

Both Frank and Phelps remember, too, the easygoing disposition and maturity — even as a teenager — that still complement Heatley’s on-ice ferocity and allow him to fully enjoy the game.

“If you’re serious about the game, you’re going to think about it off the ice too,” noted Heatley.

“But sometimes you have to block it out and move on. You can mull it over all you want, and it won’t help. You need to have a businesslike attitude, but have fun at the same time.”

Said Phelps: “As a person, he’s fun to be around. If I said, ‘Guys, be here at 7 o’clock and have a shirt and tie on,’ he was there. He handled the pressures of playing with such maturity.

“Some guys were getting rattled, and other guys were pointing fingers, but he was saying the right things,” added Phelps.

“He should have been the (Canucks’ 1998-99) captain as a kid who’d just turned 17. He makes the game the way it’s supposed to be — fun to participate.”

Said Frank: “He was always a joy to be around — always happy, always open, told you his problems. Those are easy guys to coach, because they don’t hide anything.

“My feeling always was that a leopard doesn’t change its spots,” added Frank. If they’re going to dominate now, they’ll dominate in five or six years too. I think Dany will.”

TODD KIMBERLEY Calgary Herald