Gene Principe

Gene Principe to Oiler fans: Let him Dany Heatley have it Friday, but be respectful.

There's no doubt Dan will be the Man on Friday night when San Jose visits Edmonton. The Dan I speak of is Dany "I don't want to play in Edmonton" Heatley.

Listen I'm born and raised in Edmonton and love it... the people are friendly, the summers are more beautiful than people think, the winters aren't as ugly as everyone thinks, people love hockey and we have this huge mall. (You can go swimming, clubbing, to dinner, skating and you never even have to shop.)

Now if you're Dany Heatley and you have your eye on, let's say, San Jose then you've put the Alberta capital in your rear view mirror. It's California, it's a very good team, you get to have Joe Thornton as your centreman and when you leave the rink the rink leaves you alone. No autograph seekers (or at least not many), you can have dinner without someone maybe asking you about the power play or wondering why you use a composite stick over a wooden one.

Now Heatley went to school at the University of Wisconsin so he should have enough smarts to know people in this fair city have not forgotten or forgiven him for turning his back on the Oilers when he invoked his no-trade clause. He wanted more options then Edmonton, said Heatley. He got one more, San Jose, and it was a done deal.

As the old saying goes, "honesty is the best policy" and I don't think Edmontonians are stupid enough to believe the "I want more options" line. He didn't want Edmonton plain and simple. Why? See previous line in blog about California, Thornton as your centreman and perennial powerhouse of a team.

What I find interesting is if Heatley didn't want to play in Canada, should he play for Canada at the Olympics? Are these two separate issues revolving around one hockey-mad country? In my experience I don't have a bad word to say about Heatley. However a bad word or 200 will be spewed upon him when he plays at Rexall Place Friday night.

Feel free to let him have it, but in a respectful, non-personal sort of way as this is about hockey and nothing more. Please don't bring up anything about what happened in Atlanta. That has no place at the rink. If you don't have any respect for Dany Heatley please have some for Dan Snyder. Keep it to hockey yell as much as the price on your ticket suggests you are owed... but once you're done and he's done let's move on.

It will be over and we should no longer concern ourselves with "Dan the Man" who picked Northern California over Northern Alberta to play his hockey.

If he makes the Olympic team and scores the goal that wins Canada gold, it's OK to cheer for him because by then he will be one of us, even if you may always feel like he's one of them for saying no to the Heartland of Hockey for the Comforts of California.