Over the last two or three years, the Bruins have unquestionably been one of the most well-run organizations in the league. From the depth signings to the trades to the change in coaching philosophies, the Bruins have been an unbreakable bunch. After a win on Saturday night, the Bruins are 78-13-7 over the course of the regular season in the Jim Montgomery era. But there was a time when the Bruins made some very questionable decisions. Trading away Danton Heinen for Nick Ritchie was one of them.
At the time, the Bruins chased the idea of adding “toughness and grit” into their bottom-six. Regardless of the merit of that idea, Nick Ritchie wasn’t the guy to fill that role. In his one full season with the Boston Bruins, he put up 0 standings points above replacement, and combined for -3.3 in the two seasons following. He’s now out of the league.
If you are a conspiracy theorist, you come to the assumption that a typo in Eric Russo of the Boston Bruins’ article from September that the Heinen for Ritchie deal was a delayed continuation of the Ondrej Kase deal that happened three days prior. Regardless, it was poor asset management at the time.
But that is now spilt milk under the bridge. The Bruins allowed Ritchie to walk when he became an unrestricted free agent, electing to move in a different direction with the construction of their team.
Danton Heinen signed a league-minimum deal off of a professional tryout offer after sitting out the first two weeks of the season waiting for the deal to be finalized. If Heinen is of any value, why didn’t another team offer him something more? I think the captivation of grit in the bottom six is what kept teams on the sidelines in their bids for him. I described him back in September as someone who, “Does a great job controlling the game but lacks the scoring skills to be a top six contributor.”
When then head coach, Bruce Cassidy, was asked to reflect on Danton Heinen in his return to TD Garden in 2022, he described him as a versatile, coachable player who was a good teammate, particularly referencing his role as a Swiss army knife who would play his off-wing and in all situations. In a world coming out of covid where everyone is tight to the cap, these types of players become more and more valuable.
So far for the Bruins, he has done as promised. His pair of points in eight games isn’t noteworthy is any direction, particularly because he started out on a fourth line with John Beecher and Oskar Steen prior to moving up after Morgan Geekie left the lineup due to injury. But his team-leading 65.7% share of expected goals at 5-on-5, which has been rewarded with a 76.6% share of goals, is what the Bruins need in their bottom six.
While I should preface this by saying that this is partly due to sample size, one thing that Heinen has done differently than in years past is get more pucks on net than in years past. One of the issues the Bruins had with Heinen in his first stint in Boston was that he wouldn’t shoot enough. He bounced around 6.5 shots on goal per hour at 5-on-5. In Pittsburgh, he saw a jump up to around 8.5 shots on goal per hour. This season, he sits at 10.0.
He leads all but David Pastrnak in shots on goal per hour amongst Bruins this season, and seventh in expected goals per hour which includes shot quality and missed shots. This was on display Saturday night against the Canadiens where he had five shots on goal, three of which were within 10 feet.
Bruce Cassidy’s offensive zone system stressed shot rates. In order to get shots from inside to make a difference, you either had to cause a breakdown in a cycle or get a rebound from a point shot. That doesn’t fit a player like Heinen who doesn’t have the speed or muscle. The more methodical, possession-based offensive zone play fits a player like Heinen more, as he and his teammates are allowing each other to find open space on the interior by extending plays on the perimeter of the offensive zone.
Patience with Heinen’s production is a bit easier given that you could select any random shift and find him making a great defensive play. For example, this one where he forces a turnover and wills the puck into the offensive zone against the Canadiens first line.
If and when the powerplay dries up, the Bruins may need to lean on him for more scoring. However, right now, he can’t be doing his job that much better. He is controlling play and allows the next line to come onto the ice in a good situation more often than not.
He might not fit the mold of a traditional bottom-six forward, but traditional bottom-six forwards don’t control play like he does.