The decision is in and WCHA teams will have to endure another season of Dany Heatley.<\/p>\n
The Wisconsin phenom announced Wednesday he will return to school for his sophomore season, rather than accept what surely would be a lucrative deal with the Atlanta Thrashers, who drafted him with the No. 2 pick in the June NHL draft.<\/p>\n
“I just don’t think that I am ready,” Heatley told the Canadian Press. “I think another year in school would help me on and off the ice and better prepare me to come back to Atlanta next year.”<\/p>\n
Heatley, 19, was the WCHA’s rookie of the year last season, helping Wisconsin to the MacNaughton Cup as the regular-season champions. He scored 28 goals and 28 assists in 38 games.<\/p>\n
Since the draft, Heatley, a 6-foot-1, 200-pound Calgary, Alberta, native, said he changed his mind many times.<\/p>\n
“It’s been crazy here since the draft — some days I’m totally set on leaving and other days I want to go back,” he said. “It’s nice to get it over with and off your back.”<\/p>\n
One of the only weaknesses scouts saw in Heatley’s play last season with the Badgers was his speed. That may have factored into his decision to return to school.<\/p>\n
“Any time an 18- or 19-year-old guy gets thrown into the league, it’s going to be tough on him,” Heatley said. “Hopefully I can get bigger and stronger and quicker and be able to make that step a little bit better next year.” <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The decision is in and WCHA teams will have to endure another season of Dany Heatley.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":140328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n