SAN JOSE — Dany Heatley wasn’t smiling much a year ago.
Now you can’t wipe the grin off his face.
As a key element in the best line the NHL has to offer, who could blame the Calgary-born winger for wearing it?
“I love coming to the rink every day,” Heatley said Monday before his San Jose Sharks played host to the Calgary Flames. “It’s a great group of guys, a great organization.
“I love being here.”
Suiting up beside the best passer in the game and an equally talented sniper on the opposite wing tends to have that effect.
And the results are constantly coming in favour of Heatley, Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau.
Prior to Monday night, they’d amassed 72 goals and 95 assists for 167 points in 49 games together in teal jerseys, making them the kings of the rinks as the league’s top trio.
Soon they’ll get a chance to prove they’re the best in the world.
All three are suiting up for Team Canada in Vancouver for next month’s Olympic Games.
“I think they can be just as dominant,” said Sharks defenceman Rob Blake, who’s glad he’s on the same team as the playmaking trio that can beat defenders in any fashion.
“Passing and scoring — but size. All these guys are 220 pounds. Then they’ve got the speed and skill. They’ve got vision.
“Pretty much everything you want as a line, they have as a package. There’s not a lot of teams that can offer that.”
There aren’t many countries that can put a line like that together.
And the Sharks’ triple threat is looking forward to proving it in Vancouver.
The smile Heatley is sporting might still be left over from the day the Canadian roster was announced and he heard he, Marleau and Thornton would all be making the trip up the coast.
“It was great. Exciting,” Heatley said. “We were hoping all three of us would go. And (defenceman Dan Boyle, who was also selected) — all four of us. When we did get named, it was an exciting morning.
“We’re pumped to go.”
All three Sharks forwards are honoured.
They also share Steve Yzerman’s belief chemistry is important heading into the Olympics with only one practice before the games begin.
“We play and we practice every day together. We should have a good tournament if they keep us together,” Thornton said. “Hopefully we’re all playing good hockey at the time.”
“I think it’s huge, being able to go there playing with the people you’ve been playing with in the regular-season,” added Marleau.
“We have the chemistry. We have the ability to know where each other’s gonna be on the ice. Hopefully that’ll give us the advantage come Olympic time.”
Team Canada is counting on it.
Head coach Mike Babcock said last week the trio comprises “the best line in the league right now, for sure.”
“If that’s what people are saying, those are awfully nice compliments,” said a humble Marleau.
“But I think if you ask Joe and either of us, we’ll tell you we’re just working hard to get our job done.”
That hard work might be what makes them the best line in the world next month.
steve.macfarlane@sunmedia.ca
