By John Manasso

updated 5:01 p.m. ET Feb. 19, 2008

It was another milestone, one that passed quietly for Dany Heatley. This one had nothing to do with the vibrant resume of one of the NHL’s brightest stars.

On February 4, while the Senators left winger still was mending from a separated shoulder, the book was officially closed on his three years of probation on charges of misdemeanor vehicular homicide in connection with the death of former Thrashers teammate Dan Snyder.

“Obviously, you’d rather be off than on it,” Heatley says . “I’m not thinking about it like that, but it’ll be nice when it expires.”

The answer and a stoic exterior are typical of the way Heatley deals with all queries about the incident — the kind of tragedy few hockey players, or anyone, will ever have to deal with.

It happened on September 29, 2003, on a curvy, narrow road, not far from Heatley’s Atlanta home. Heatley and Snyder were returning from dinner at a trendy restaurant when Heatley lost control of his new Ferrari. The posted speed limit was 25 mph; experts said the car was traveling between 55 and 58 when it crashed into a brick fence post. Snyder was ejected on impact.

Snyder, a gritty young center who had just received word he would open the season with the Thrashers, died five days later . Heatley suffered a broken jaw, lacerations, a shoulder injury and a knee injury that required reconstructive surgery. He missed the first 51 games of the 2003-04 season, returning to thunderous applause at Philips Arena on January 28, 2004.

He was indicted that July on a felony vehicular homicide charge that could have landed him in jail for more than 10 years. But Snyder’s family supported Heatley, and, after a long ordeal, he pleaded guilty, had the felony charge dropped and received three years of probation for misdemeanor violations.

The next step was figuring out how to both keep his friend in his thoughts and move on with his life.

“I have superstitions or tricks that I do,” Heatley said at the time when asked about the connection he retained with Snyder, “but I’ll keep that to myself.”

The privacy, the stoicism — call it whatever you want — might be the secret to how Heatley has bounced back and become the first player to record consecutive 50-goal seasons since 2001.

“It’s really tough for him — he just shows a lot of character,” says Ilya Kovalchuk, Heatley’s former Atlanta linemate who keeps in close touch with his friend. “He’s playing unbelievable right now. I really think he’s one of the best. He’s a franchise player.”

If not for the separated shoulder, Heatley, now 27, would have returned to Atlanta last month as an Eastern Conference All-Star. It’s a city with which he has a complicated relationship.

In the days after Heatley’s accident, Thrashers fan s rallied behind him, following the lead of Snyder’s family. But later, when he requested a trade to get away from the memories in Atlanta, those same fans turned on him with merciless venom. After his subsequent trade to Ottawa for Marian Hossa and Greg de Vries, Heatley exacerbated the feeling of betrayal when he praised Ottawa for being a real hockey market.

The boos have decreased now that Heatley has made six visits to Philips Arena, but the feeling of resentment his friends feel about the way he was treated hasn’t.

Kovalchuk calls the booing stupid. Another former Atlanta teammate, Slava Kozlov, says, “He doesn’t deserve any boos.” Bob Hartley, who coached the Thrashers at the time of the accident, has resisted comparisons about the players swapped, saying the trade was about life, not hockey.

Thrashers assistant equipment manager Joey Guilmet, a close friend of both Heatley’s and Snyder’ s, remembers Heatley’s first game back in Atlanta in 2006, saying, “I’ll be honest. I was pretty emotional. I’m sure he was emotional.”

Heatley says he doesn’t care what the Atlanta fans do but struggles to pinpoint why they direct so much venom his way: “Like any fans, why do any fans do what they do? They do what they want.” Heatley’s defense attorney Manny Arora likens the situation to a divorce in which both parties needed a fresh start.

“You move on with your life,” he says. “Certainly, moving on with your life is almost impossible (in Heatley’s case). While he won’t ever forget anything or any of those things, I’m sure (the trade) has made his life easier.”

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