Sad way to start a preseason, Atlanta Thrasher's biggest star Dany Heatley (41 goals last year), who rocked the all star game, is in the hospital with minor injuries and his teammate Dan Snyder is in a coma with brain injuries after a car crash in which Heatley crashed his black Ferrari into low brick wall late Monday night. Shades of Pele Lindbergh. (different circumstances, obviously. Hope the guy can pull out of it, though playing hockey after a skull fracture and a "significant brain injury" seems a bit unlikely, one Scott Stevens elbow and he could be permanently down. No one needs that.
I was just about to post about this. Check out the pictures of the car. The Ferrari was literally sliced in half. Shades of Pelle Lindbergh indeed - though I guess we'll have to wait and see if alcohol played a part. (edit - Ok, I read the story and apparently it did not)
When I first heard about this, I figured it was Kovalchuk, who has developed quite a reputation as a speedster, even by Atlanta standards. I guess Heatley has the same dumb "affliction". While "minor" in comparison to Snyder's injuries, Heatley apparently sustained jaw, shoulder and leg fractures.
Not to mention the recent passing of Herb Brooks, plus Flyers defenseman Dmitri Tertyshny who died in a powerboat accident in 1993 I believe.
The Thrashers are supposed to play a preseason game tonight against Florida, and it would appear that game is going on as scheduled. At this point, Snyder is still in a coma. The coma is partially induced by medication, and his coma is described by doctors as being a 6 or 7 on a coma scale. (The coma scale runs from 3-15, based on how a patient responds to certain conditions. 15 is considered a mild coma, 3 the most serious. Any score below 8 indicates a serious brain injury) His doctors expect to have a better idea of his condition in the next few days. Heatley suffered a broken jaw, and contusions on his lungs and kidneys. Heatley was charged with reckless driving, serious injury by vehicle, driving too fast for conditions, driving on the wrong side of the road, and striking a fixed object. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, he is due in court on October 10. The serious injury by vehicle charge is a felony, and potentially carries a charge of 1-15 years. Along with the other accidents people have mentioned in this, After the Detroit Red Wings won the Stanley Cup in 1997, Slava Kozlov, Vladimir Konstantinov, and the team masseuse Sergei Mnatsakanov were injured in a limo accident. Konstantinov and Mnatsakanov are both still disabled from their injuries. Slava Kozlov plays for the Thrashers, and was expected to be Danny Heatley's linemate this season.
Dan Snyder died tonight from the injuries that he suffered in the car crash. http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story.asp?id=56305 According to hospital officials, Snyder died without ever regaining consiousness. Dany Heatley could now legitamately be looking at a charge of vehicular manslaughter, or vehicular homicide, dependent on Georgia law. Now totally in the background, it was descovered earlier that Heatley completely tore his ACL, MCL, and Lateral Meniscus in his knee, and is probably done for the season, legal issues notwithstanding.
I was surprised to learn Craig MacTavish spent a year in prision on a vehicular homicide charge. http://www.hockeydraftcentral.com/1978/78153.html This current situation isn't going to help the NHL.
No, but I don't see how it will negatively affect the NHL as a league because of the actions of one individual. Just like Kobe's case isn't going to negatively affect the NBA. I really feel bad for this kid who died and his teammates and family.
People aren't going to stop going to hockey games because of this (they're going to stop going because of labor armageddon coming after the CBA expires in 2004, but that's another story...). BUT, it really doesn't help, from a PR standpoint, to have the NHL 2004 cover boy, and one of the league's budding superstars looking at a homicide charge. There's really no way to get around this either. Unlike Kobe, which is essentially going to boil down to he-said, she-said. Everyone knows that Heatley was driving the car. He was driving too fast, lost control, and crashed. Snyder died from injuries sustained in the crash. Heatley is to blame for Snyder's death, and it's pretty cut-and-dried. He'll be going to jail for this one, and probably for longer than a year. Jail time, and injuries he sustained aside, Dany Heatley is going to have to deal with the fact that he killed one of his teammates. That's probably going to be the worse punishment.
In what ways are these people sick of NBA players? Are you implying that people are more sick of them than they are of players in the other sports?
Heatley's going to be charged with vehicular manslaughter, according to a wire report in today's Mercury News... Damn. The curse of being on an EA Sports video game box cover strikes again. (In football, the past several years' cover star for Madden football has been hurt. In hockey, both Nolan and Pronger had injury filled years when they appeared on the boxes in recent years. Guess who's the box for NHL 2004? Yep. Heatley. Although in this case I'd expect a repackaging with a new cover star ASAP.) I don't think the Thrashers were expecting Heatley back any time soon, anyway, because the snatched two LWs (Aubin and someone else) off the waiver wire the other day.
i knew pelle and it ripped my heart out when he died - man, what a great guy he was - this news brought to the surface some bad memories, i sure miss him my sincerest thoughts go out to the snyder family and the thrashers - i also feel rotten for heatley, that's a harsh reality he has to deal with