In British Columbia, VancouverFive years to the day after was traded to the Ducks at the trade deadline, Danton Heinen and his Bruins colleagues entered Rogers Arena early on Saturday afternoon.
Heinen consistently lines up as one of the top six forwards for the Black and Gold, five solar cycles later if you’re keeping score on the universe’s scoreboard.
Even though Heinen, 28, had only a professional tryout (PTO) at training camp in September to demonstrate his worthiness for an NHL salary, life has been pleasant.
“That’s definitely not something you want to be doing every year, or at all,” Heinen remarked with a laugh as he thought back on his dangerously roundabout route to rejoin the squad that had recruited him ten years prior.
For Nick Ritchie, the once-promising forward acquired by the Bruins in that trade with the Ducks, the puck hasn’t bounced quite as fortunate. Karpat cut loose 6-foot-3-inch, 235-pound Ritchie last month, just a few weeks into his Finnish comeback tour. Ritchie was selected by the Ducks with the No. 10 choice in the same draft as Heinen.
Ritchie was given an eight-game suspension by SM-Liga in December for repeatedly and flagrantly punching Marcus Nurmi in the head. The strapping Ritchie was backchecked by Nurmi, a 2016 Senators draft selection, who then fell to the ice along the wall and dropped to the floor at Ritchie’s feet. As the NHL’s Department of Player Safety is frequently known to claim, the beating was obviously not a hockey play, and it ended up being Ritchie’s final moment with Karpat.
Ritchie’s ban was lifted around a month later, and Karpat general manager Mikko Myllykoski bid him farewell. The firing was announced on the team’s website. Ritchie was a “high risk/high reward” signing, according to the general manager, but in the end, he “was not able to rise to the role that we would have needed him to play.”
This begs the question: “Don’t let the penalty box door hit you on the way out”—what is Finnish for?
Five years later, Heinen and Ritchie’s different career paths and accomplishments highlight the peculiar career arcs and small fits that are typical in professional hockey once more.
Selected fifteen spots ahead of David Pastrnak, Ritchie was that massive beast who the Ducks were eyeing to replace aging icons like Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry. Eventually, they discovered, umm, no.
Heinen played for Jim Montgomery for two seasons at the University of Denver before moving to Boston two years after the 2014 draft. He was promising. His extremely successful college seasons (93 points/81 games) suggested he would have been a steal as the 116th choice, even though he didn’t have the Ritchie potential.
Heinen, who was 23, was a member of the Bruce Cassidy team that advanced to the Stanley Cup Final’s seventh game in 2019. He was handed off to the Ducks eight months later.
Heinen is back now, having posted a 10-10-20 line in 50 games before Saturday’s game against the Canucks. He frequently lines up in a trio with Charlie Coyle and Brad Marchand.
Ritchie? According to eliteprospects.com, he is currently in Germany and is a player for the Iserlohn Roosters. As of Saturday morning, he had a record of 0-1-1 in six games. In his 63 regular-season games as a Bruin, he scored 28 points.
Growing up in Canucks country and a proud son of Langley, which is about 30 miles southeast of Rogers Arena, Heinen said, “I knew I was an NHLer.” “I just had to find a place and people who agreed with me.”
Heinen, though, noted that there is “a fine line” between being that player—a man with credentials, having played in 413 games before to this season, being young and big (6-1, 190), and having to persuade someone else that he is worthy of a chance.
Heinen claimed that prior to this season, just one other NHL team had extended a PTO to him. Choosing the return opportunity with Boston was his choice; his trust and familiarity with Montgomery were only pieces of a puzzle that made the most sense to him.
Heinen declared, “I’m really happy with how it’s worked out so far.” “I think we have a good chance, and it’s a fun group, so I’m going to try to keep building and try to be a part of this.”
The coaches’ corner
Rick Tocchet, the favorite to win the Stanley Cup this season, faced off against Montgomery, the winner of the Jack Adams Award for coach of the year the previous season, in the Bruins-Canucks game.
After finishing 38-37-7 in the playoffs the previous season, the Canucks came into this season with a best-in-the-West record of 37-16-6.
Almost thirty years have passed since Tocchet played forward for the Bruins for portions of two seasons (1995–1997), scoring 54 points in 67 games—a production that would now fetch $5 million annually.
In March 1997, Tocchet was traded to the Capitals in exchange for Jason Allison visiting Boston.
Reverse matchup
The Bruins handed Tocchet’s charges a 4-0 defeat in the Garden on February 8, the only other time they faced each other this season. Following Heinen and Marchand’s shorthanded goals, Morgan Geekie and Pavel Zacha scored at even strength.Linus Ullmark stopped all 17 shots the Canucks managed to produce with ease.
Montgomery remarked afterward, “I think they’ll be a different team the next time we see them.”
Searching for further
The Bruins had only had three goals from their defensemen since January 20, the evening that Brandon Carlo opened the scoring in a 9-4 thumping of the Canadiens at the Garden. All three goals came from Charlie McAvoy. With his two goals on Thursday night in Calgary, Coyle’s season total is at 20, just one goal shy of his career high set with the Wild in 2015–16. The following season, he recorded his best-ever point total with the Wild of 56. Before Saturday, his line of 20-28-48 was his best since joining the Bruins, and it put him just nine points shy of a career high.Seventy-two hours after his leaky performance (44 shots, 39 saves) in the 6-5 overtime victory at Edmonton that increased his record to 18-6-7… Jeremy Swayman started in the Bruins’ net. The Bruins lost 3-2 in overtime at Calgary on Thursday, despite having a 00:00 lead time. In their first eighteen games, they have just once failed to post a lead (going 14-1-3). Over the course of the following 40 games, they were 20-11-9 and never had a lead 12 times.Jake DeBrusk’s 1-1–2 in Edmonton ended a nine-game losing streak. But in his previous 11 games, that was it for DeBrusk until Saturday. He stays in the top six most of the evenings. The deadline for trades is still March 8.
Read more news on…https://sportupdates.co.uk
Leave a Reply