About two weeks away from the official opening of training camp — and with questions galore — Bruins general manager Don Sweeney continues to search down every street, in every house, and under every couch cushion in search of some extra help for the 2023-24 Boston Bruins.
And on Tuesday, Sweeney’s search led him to a familiar name, as the Bruins confirmed that former Bruins winger Danton Heinen would be digging his old B’s gear out of the closet and joining the team on a pro tryout agreement.
Heinen comes to the Bruins on the heels of a two-year run in Pittsburgh, and with eight goals and 22 points in a 65-game run almost entirely in a bottom-six role for the Penguins this past season. It was a bit of a weird ending to what was an all-around weird kind of tenure for Heinen, all things considered, as the Penguins decided to relinquish Heinen’s rights after a career-high 18 goals in 2021-22, and then brought him back for just above league minimum later that summer. (Reports out of Pittsburgh back in 2022 indicated that the Penguins did not want to meet Heinen’s original asking price of around $3 million. That actually turned out to be a good move for the sides given the aforementioned campaign that followed.)
Overall, the 28-year-old Heinen put up 26 goals and 55 points over his hot-and-cold 141-game run with the Pens, and totaled 10 goals and 18 points in a 52-game run with Anaheim before his time with the Penguins.
Heinen actually torched the Bruins the most over that span, with three goals and four points in six meetings with the Bruins following the team’s decision to move him in a one-for-one swap for Nick Ritchie back in 2020. So if there’s one thing the Bruins can take comfort in, it’s that Heinen won’t be ruining their lives in the preseason, if that’s worth a lick or two to you.
As for what he brings to the Bruins, consider him a big old ‘TBD’ at this point.
A fourth-round draft pick (No. 116 overall) of the Bruins back in 2014, Heinen’s best NHL days came during his time in Boston from 2016 through 2020, with 34 goals and 103 points in 220 games with the Black and Gold. So in a way, it’s only natural that he’s coming back to the B’s in search of regaining some footing on his career.
Heinen also had significant (and largely positive) experience playing with both winger Brad Marchand and center Charlie Coyle (on different lines) during his first Boston run.
Marchand and Heinen played over 267 minutes of five-on-five together from 2017 through 2020, and the Bruins outshot opponents 214-178, out-chanced them 134-116, and outscored them 16-9 over that stretch.
As for Heinen’s run with Coyle, the tandem played over 390 minutes of five-on-five play during the Vancouver native’s final two seasons with the Bruins, the Bruins outshot opponents 214-175 and outscored them 13-8 during that sample. The duo made up two-thirds of what emerged as a go-to option for Boston on their third line during the 2019 postseason, too. (Where ‘ya at, Marcus Johansson?)
Oh, and Heinen played his college hockey at Denver under current Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery, and had 93 points in 81 NCAA games under his guidance.
The Bruins may be reaching (and potentially reaching hard) by bringing Heinen back into the mix hoping any of those previous connections come to the table, but he’s also the very definition of a potential ‘found money’ add for the Bruins.
And, boy, could they use a few of those this season.
If Heinen is signed to a contract, it’ll almost certainly be for at or close to league minimum. You don’t go unsigned into September and then ink a big-money deal following a PTO. And if he is signed, it means that some of that chemistry came back to the table, and that Heinen proved to be a value-add presence for Boston.
This is something that Sweeney and the Bruins acknowledged as a fallout of their busted ‘all in’ approach all summer long. Sweeney repeatedly noted that the Bruins were going to need to dig for ‘value’ finds and bounce-back year candidates and simply hope that they’d play out that way for the cap-wrecked B’s.
(And here’s a fun stat for you when it comes to Heinen returning to the Bruins: Going back over the last two years, Heinen and Tyler Bertuzzi have actually scored the same number of five-on-five goals, with 22, and that’s with Bertuzzi having a 157-minute leg up on Heinen, and playing a top-six role almost exclusively.)
Heinen joins Alex Chiasson as the Bruins’ tryout invites to date, and with both looking to keep a younger player on the outside looking in. Heinen is definitely more bottom-six, even-strength and defensively-minded than Chiasson, who is certainly more of a power-play specialist at this point in his career.
They’re just the newest names added to the mix in a competition that’s full of options, with free-agent veteran adds like Patrick Brown, Anthony Richard, and Jayson Megna looking to stick with the NHL club, while Georgii Merkulov, Fabian Lysell, and Marc McLaughlin are among the youngsters looking to break through.
Ty Anderson is a writer and columnist for 985TheSportsHub.com. He has been covering the Bruins since 2010, and has been a member of the Boston chapter of the PHWA since 2013. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of 98.5 The Sports Hub, Beasley Media Group, HockeyBuzz.com or any subsidiaries. Yell at him on Twitter/X: @_TyAnderson.