Today, he skated with his team for the first time since the car crash that beat him up pretty good both physically and emotionally.

It does my heart good to see how his teammates, the Atlanta Thrashers' fans, and hockey fans in general (not to mention Dan Snyder's family) are supporting Heatley.

His next, and likely most emotionally difficult, challenge will be pulling on the Thrashers sweater and taking the ice as a member of the Thrashers' lineup for the first time (which could be in a little less than a month from now). But, if he's made it this far, I think he'll be all right, given the support he has.