The former Ice Black was quite comfortable putting his feet up and enjoying life since retiring in 2021.
Then "literally" three weeks ago, the thoughts started creeping in: what if he could dust off the skates and return to the Thunder?
"It hadn’t really crossed my mind," Heyd said.
"There was no interest in playing and I don’t really know what triggered it."
He sat on the thought for about a week, before acting on it and caught up with head coach Guillaume Leclancher
Heyd (32), who is also the chief executive of the Dunedin Ice Stadium, told Leclancher he would be free to play the Thunder’s home games this season and Leclancher was happy to have one of Dunedin’s most experienced players back in the mix.
And so here Heyd is, back in the green jersey as he prepares for the National Ice Hockey League, getting under way in Dunedin on Friday.
He was "pretty excited" to return to the team after a season off — even if it has felt like much longer — and get back to enjoying his ice hockey.
The Thunder was fresh this season with a lot of youth scattered across the ice, he said.
"It’s quite a young team which kind of goes with a Uni town, but it sort of goes in waves.
"A lot of people join and they’re here for a handful of years and then move on.
"You sort of just get groups going through, so there’s quite a core of sort of under-20 players which are good."
A notable absence from last year’s team is Dylan Devlin, who is living in Wanaka and will join the Stampede this season. Ben Harford and Isaak Reid have also left.
But the Thunder has recruited well with former Botany Swarm and Auckland Mako player Sebastien Ong and former Mako and West Auckland Admirals player Luc Tallion joining the team. Ong was also part of the New Zealand under-18 squad last year.
Imports Ryan Wonfor and Will Ellis, both from Canada,also join the team.
Mat Enright will captain the side and will be assisted by new father Regan Wilson, Tristan Darling and Ian Audas.
The Thunder’s season gets under way with a double-header against the Southern Stampede on Friday and Saturday in Dunedin.
It will host other home games against the Admirals (June 2-3), Swarm (June 16-17), Mako (July 14-15) and the Canterbury Red Devils (August 4-5).
