Dany Heatley signs 1-year deal in German League
Dany Heatley’s days of playing in the NHL appear to be over as the 34-year old forward signed with the German league’s Thomas Sabo Ice Tigers in Nuremberg on Thursday.
From the Ice Tigers (roughly translated):
"Dany Heatley is one of the largest commitments in the history of the DEL. We are very pleased and happy that he has chosen to play for the Ice Tigers in Nuremberg, "said Ice-Tigers sports director Martin Jiranek. "We have been more than a month with Dany in contact, he is friends with several players with us. He does not come for the money, he comes because he wants to play in Nuremberg. The obligation of Dany Heatley is a win, but also for the entire DEL not only for the Ice Tigers."
The deal is for the 2015-16 season.
Owning a German passport allowed the Ice Tigers to bring Heatley on and not have him count toward the per team foreigner quota. Heatley was born in Freiburg, which is four hours from Nuremberg, while his father played professionally in Germany.
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Heatley scored 372 goals in 869 NHL games over 13 seasons between the Atlanta Thrashers, Ottawa Senators, San Jose Sharks, Minnesota Wild and Anaheim Ducks. He signed a one-year deal with the Ducks last summer before being assigned to their AHL affiliate in December. He was waived later that month and then was part of a February deal that sent him to the Florida Panthers, where he would spend the rest of the 2014-15 season playing in San Antonio.
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Sean Leahy is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Sean_Leahy
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