Yea, but last season is relevant man. Heinen came in off a 20 goal season and Kap came off a disappointing 32 point season where he saw his TOI plummet by season's end. These things determine the leash you have going into '22/'23. These things contribute to why Kap got scratched after 13 games and Heinen is still in there after 20. You can't ignore them.
For the record I'm all for sitting Heinen and trying Puustinen with the big club for once. As for the other Finn... well... we gave him 100 games straight worth of chances and I don't want to see him in the lineup anymore.
This is hilarious.
Kapanen and Heinen were off by 1pt for their season totals. Kapanen had random streaks of production while also suffering through some major confidence issues and loss of identity on this roster, he was up on Malkin's line and then demoted quite often, to the point where when Heinen went on his hot streak due to the play of Carter & Kapanen, only Heinen benefitted from their hard work during those times. Heinen now, is having an even worse cold streak, something that has had him moved from 2 teams already, and yet the narrative is that Kapanen is crap when he's been the most misused player on this f***ing roster - which isn't an opinion btw, it's legit fact.
Edit:
Kapanen was, again I hate mentioning this but it better illustrates how badly the Pens have misused him, utilized heavily on the Leafs PK his entire tenure there.
Since 2015-16 to 2019-20 he averaged: 1:27 SHTOI/G (292:04 - Total in that span)
Since joining the Pens in 2020-21 to 2022-23: 0:11 SHTOI/G (23:25 - Total in that span)
Kapanen was mostly utilized on the 3rd line, where he did most of his damage in Toronto, the final year he was mostly with I think Kerfoot and Mikheyev. Was he miscast with Malkin? Most definitely, he should have likely started on the 3rd line and worked his way up, but that shortened season he caught fire with Malkin and then when he cooled off, he didn't really bounce back again and they never bothered to utilize him in an area he was quite strong in with Toronto - their PK. While being on the 3rd line with Carter helped him with some confidence, Carter isn't the fit there for him either. I think Zucker and Kapanen worked but Malkin was not the C that Kapanen really fit with, he would have been a better fit for Crosby's line, but then you had Guentzel and Crosby needing an even stronger 2-way type and required Rust or Rakell (now) and would get Rodriguez up on that line as well for that same reason which again tells you that there's a huge problem with how the Pens deploy their forwards, what their fit is, and how good that top line is while also being a defensive liability for the most part and why Crosby will never win the Selke.
