Heinen seized second chance
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Danton Heinen filed into Rogers Arena early Saturday afternoon, along with his Bruins teammates, four years to the day after he filed out of Boston, dealt to the Ducks at the trading deadline.
Four solar cycles later — if you’re noting time on the universe’s scoresheet — Heinen lines up regularly as one of the Black and Gold’s top six forwards.
“It seems like a long time ago now,” said Heinen, after popping in a goal in the Bruins’ 3-2 overtime loss to the Canucks Saturday night. “It is what it is . . . you deal with whatever happens in life, you know, I’m happy to be back here. It comes full circle . . . just happy to be part of this team.”
Heinen finished with 13:18 in ice time and the goal came on one of two shots he landed.
Life has been good, even if Heinen, 28, was left with nothing better than a PTO (professional tryout) in September’s training camp as means to prove himself worthy of another NHL paycheck.
“It’s not something you want to be doing every year, or at all, that’s for sure,” said Heinen, chuckling as he reflected on his circuitous, risky path back to the team that drafted him 10 years earlier.
After a brief pause, Heinen added, “I believed it was all going to work out. I still believed in myself.”
Meanwhile, the puck hasn’t bounced as fortuitously for Nick Ritchie, the once-promising forward who came to the Bruins in that swap with the Ducks. The 6-foot-3-inch, 235-pound Ritchie, who the Ducks chose with the No. 10 pick in the same draft as Heinen, was cut free last month by Karpat a few weeks into his Finnish reboot tour.
In December, SM-Liga suspended Ritchie for eight games, after his blatant, repeated punches to Markus Nurmi’s
head. Nurmi, a 2016 Senators draft pick, muscled the strapping Ritchie into the boards on a backcheck and tumbled to the ice along the wall, dropping at Ritchie’s feet. The pummeling clearly was not a hockey play — as the NHL’s Department of Player Safety often is wont to say — and it turned out to be the last moment in Ritchie’s career with Karpat.
About a month later, with Ritchie’s suspension served, Karpat general manager Mikko Myllykoski bade him farewell, the dismissal posted on the club’s website. The GM noted Ritchie had been a “high risk/ high reward” signing, and ultimately he was “not able to rise to the role that we would have needed him to play.”
Four years later, the varied paths and successes of Heinen and Ritchie again underscore the narrow fits and quirky career arcs inherent in pro hockey.
Ritchie was that big beast— chosen 15 slots higher than David Pastrnak — the Ducks eyed to succeed the likes of aging icons Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry.
Heinen arrived in Boston two years after the 2014 draft, following two seasons playing for Jim Montgomery at the University of Denver. He had promise. Not Ritchie promise, but his college production (93 points/81 games) hinted he might have been a steal as the 116th pick.
At 23, Heinen was part of the Bruce Cassidy gang that made it to game No. 7 of the Stanley Cup Final in 2019. Eight months later, he was dished to the Ducks.
Now Heinen is back, with a 11-10–21 line in 51 games,routinely lining up on a trio with Brad Marchand and Charlie Coyle. Montgomery, with lines reworked again Saturday, had him riding with Trent Frederic
and Morgan Geekie.
Ritchie? He’s in Germany, playing for the Iserlohn Roosters, with a line of 1-0–1 in six games entering Saturday, per eliteprospects.com. He had 28 points in 63 regular-season games as a Bruin.
“I knew I was an NHLer,” said Heinen, who grew up in Langley, some 30 miles southeast of Rogers Arena. “I just needed to find a spot, and find people who thought so, too.”
But it is, added Heinen, “a fine line” to be that guy — a player with bona fides, including 413 games prior to this season, with size (6-1, 190), with youth — and also be that guy who has to convince someone he’s worth a shot.
Only one other NHL team, said Heinen, offered him a PTO going into this season. He opted for the return chance with Boston, his familiarity with and trust in Montgomery just part of a mosaic that made the most sense to him.
“I’m really happy how it’s worked out so far,” Heinen said. “I’m going to try to keep on building and try to be a part of this because it’s a fun group, a great group, and I think we’ve got a good chance.” Coaches’ corner
The Bruins-Canucks matchup brought Montgomery, last season’s Jack Adams Award winner as coach of the year, up against Rick Tocchet, the favorite to be this season’s winner.
The Canucks have a best-inthe-West 38-16-6 mark, following last season’s playoff DNQ finish of 38-37-7.
Tocchet spent parts of two seasons as a Bruins forward (1995-97) and collected 54 points in 67 games, a pace worthy of $5 million a year now.
Tocchet in March 1997 was wheeled to the Capitals in the exchange that included Jason Allison coming to Boston.
Return matchup
In their only previous matchup this season, Feb. 8, the Bruins slapped a 4-0 loss on Tocchet’s charges at the Garden. Heinen and Marchand connected with shorthanded goals, followed by Geekie and Pavel Zacha at even strength. Linus Ullmark easily handled the 17 shots the Canucks mustered.
“I think they’ll be a different team the next time we see them,” Montgomery said afterward.
Looking for more
The Bruins have only three goals from their defensemen, all by Charlie McAvoy, since
Jan. 20, the night Brandon Carlo
scored to lead off a 9-4 hammering of the Canadiens at the Garden . . . Coyle’s two goals in Calgary on Thursday night brought his season total to 20, one short of the career high he posted with the Wild in 2015-16. His line of 20-28–48, his best production since joining the Bruins, has him 9 points from a career high ... Jeremy Swayman (18-6-8) made 36 saves in Vancouver, 72 hours after his leaky performance (42 shots, 37 saves) in the 6-5 OT win at Edmonton.