Dany Heatley fire storm.

When Wisconsin Badger Dany Heatley asked to be traded from the Senators started a **** fire storm. I found some interesting articles about this heat subject on line and it's not pretty folks. Personally, I have no idea what kind of guy Dany Heatly in my opinion he is one of the better hockey players to come out of division one college hockey. Mike Chen has this zinger on Dany Heatly. Check it out there are some interesting accusations from an unnamed source.

That little bit of snark made me recall a story an old acquaintance told me. In the summer of 2000, I took a little precursor from joining the corporate world by being a bartender at The Phoenix in London’s business district. The pub was part of a program where new and graduating students could work abroad with a temporary visa, so my coworkers were a motley crew of international 20somethings. One of the guys had just graduated from University of Wisconsin, the same school as Dany Heatley.

As Heatley had just been drafted second overall, I asked my coworker if he knew him. The fellow, who shall remain safely anonymous, laughed and shook his head. “That guy’s an idiot.”

A few further questions and I got a pretty good picture of what Heatley’s “education” was like: play hockey, smoke pot, copy homework from people my coworker knew, and repeat. A lot. Apparently, hearing the phrase, “Hey, bro, can I copy your homework?” wasn’t exactly out of the ordinary, nor was the stench of certain smoked herb from his clothes. I can’t totally remember if Heatley was bumming all his homework off my coworker’s roommate or his friend, but apparently my coworker saw quite a bit of him and he never really deviated from this caveman mentality.

This is all hearsay, of course, based on someone that I knew for only a few weeks. And of course, it’s not like pro athletes have a history of being extremely studious or brilliant in the fields of science, business, or engineering. But whenever people talk about Heatley’s supposed leadership skills or I hear him mumble through a post-game interview, all I can think of is, “Hey, bro, can I copy your homework?”

Don Brennan from Sun Media refers to Heatly as self centered, spoiled and spineless

Damien Cox from the Star pulls no punches with this article.

Mr. Me First ---- Talk to Dany Heatley once and you understand you're not talking to a MENSA candidate.

That's okay. As probably more a few coaches have told Heatley along the way: don't think, it just hurts the team.

But where Heatley really kept his synapses in reserve this time was his timing concerning a request to have his hockey contract traded to another NHL club.

I get the part where he doesn't want to live in Ottawa. Neither would I. I get the part where after being allowed to freelance continuously during his years as a heroic Senator he might chafe at the notion of being asked to play a larger team game.

Geez, if he'd known he'd have to play in three zones he'd have asked for more money.

No, the part where I don't get Heatley's timing is when it comes to the fact that just about every Canadian hockey player is trying to be on their best behaviour these days in hopes that Steve Yzerman might find them worthy of being part of the Olympic effort next winter.

Instead, Heatley is painting himself as a me-first individual to Yzerman, a guy who played through all the hard years in Detroit and never played for any other club even when it meant taking less money at the end of his career.