News Article: “Why Did Bruins Fans Dislike Danton Heinen So Much?”

[finchster]

I liked him, but his offensive regression and the emergence of Bjork as a third line guy him expendable.

Defensively, who cares? The Bruins are the best defensive team in the league. They could afford to drop a player in a position and skill set of strength, for one of relative weakness (toughness). The toughness argument I thought was always foolish, but the Bruins could use some sandpaper this year.

In the end, people hated him because he didn't bring anything this team lacked. Also, as Sarge said, his fans praised every minor play he made; like he was some kind of hockey Picasso that the rubes didn't understand.

If you put his smarts in Jake DeBrusk you might have Bergeron.

 

[Bumper]

….my dislike for him was intensified by....the way that people referred to so many stats....in his favor made him even more unlikable for me....The fact that so many just couldn't get themselves to admit that he was simply a JAG was also frustrating....he just bored me to death and it's....because I don't "understand the game" or "appreciate the subtleties and nuances"....I have no problem saying that sometimes you just don't like a guy....I didn't watch him play and feel any kind of connection or get any particular enjoyment from watching him play....

yeah, you encapsulated the caricature I was trying to show much better. fans like this hated Heinen. color me glad to be not that type of fan, but one to have thoroughly enjoyed that player's tenure on the Bruins. I wish I could name the "four" other "JAGs" (really? define that?) on this team -- they'd be my new favorites! are they Bergeron-Cleary, Carlo, Kuraly, Coyle? oh, no -- too many responsible players, not enough flashy minuses?

 

[Ludwig Fell Down]

Sarge's take sums it up for me as well. I didn't dislike Heinen as much as I disliked the subset of the media who adopted Heinen as their unsung hero and took the position that criticizing Heinen's game equaled hockey ignorance. His positioning was generally sound but otherwise I didn't see a player who had above average skill in any category, and I cringed every time I saw him on the PP.

 

[Lobster57]

never disliked Heinen, but he was the definition of a guy just skating around, doing hockey stuff. Can't remember a single goal or play from the guy.

 

[sarge88]

yeah, you encapsulated the caricature I was trying to show much better. fans like this hated Heinen. color me glad to be not that type of fan, but one to have thoroughly enjoyed that player's tenure on the Bruins. I wish I could name the "four" other "JAGs" (really? define that?) on this team -- they'd be my new favorites! are they Bergeron-Cleary, Carlo, Kuraly, Coyle? oh, no -- too many responsible players, not enough flashy minuses?

Thanks. I think using punctuation helps when making a point too. I mean the message I conveyed was concise and accurate as well, which always helps.

As for current JAGS on the Bruins:

Wagner, Nordstrom, Lindholm, Kuraly, Moore, Bjork -- every one could move on to another team and that team doesn't move up or down in the standings, nor would the Bruins.

 

[Babajingo]

There are people that feel that he didn't live up to his 4th round (116th overall) pick.
Look at all these stars

 

[Mr. Make-Believe]

Still don’t understand why he was given PP time and not PK time. That’ll never make sense to me.

 

[BruinsFanSince94]

There are people that feel that he didn't live up to his 4th round (116th overall) pick.
Look at all these stars

View attachment 329853

We could have have Shesterkin?!?!

 

[Lobster57]

There are people that feel that he didn't live up to his 4th round (116th overall) pick.
Look at all these stars

View attachment 329853

i'd love to see a post where somebody says he didn't live up to being a 4th rounder.

 

[sarge88]

There are people that feel that he didn't live up to his 4th round (116th overall) pick.
Look at all these stars

View attachment 329853

With all due respect. This is another thing that bothered me about the pro-Heinen crowd. I can only speak for myself, but once a guy is drafted or aquired by the Bruins I don't care one bit where he was taken. I only look at what he does on the ice and his style of play when evaluating him.

Him being a 4th round pick and constantly "playing up and down the lineup" meant nothing to me.

Play better and you won't bounce around the lineup.

 

[Salem13]

The problem wasn't Danton Heinen the problem was how people perceived Danton Heinen being Danton Hienen.

 

[Ladyfan]

I didn't dislike Danton Heinen

 

[Gonzothe7thDman]

i'd love to see a post where somebody says he didn't live up to being a 4th rounder.

They don't exist.

He just needed to create an opposing opinion so he could point out that Henien has done well for being a 4th round pick.

 

[Fenian24]

yeah, you encapsulated the caricature I was trying to show much better. fans like this hated Heinen. color me glad to be not that type of fan, but one to have thoroughly enjoyed that player's tenure on the Bruins. I wish I could name the "four" other "JAGs" (really? define that?) on this team -- they'd be my new favorites! are they Bergeron-Cleary, Carlo, Kuraly, Coyle? oh, no -- too many responsible players, not enough flashy minuses?

Yawn. Yes let's make the game as boring and defensive based as possible. Bruins have a bunch of guys who can play responsible D, Coyle, Bergeron, Marchand, Kuraly, Lindholm, Bjork, Nordstrom and others in Providence making St. Danton more than expendable for a physical forward who might throw a hit in anger.

I don't want soccer on ice I want goals, hits and offense. Go find some Devil's game tapes form the mid 90's, you will be thrilled with the defense. They did hit and fight a bit though so be prepared.

 

[Salem13]

With all due respect. This is another thing that bothered me about the pro-Heinen crowd. I can only speak for myself, but once a guy is drafted or aquired by the Bruins I don't care one bit where he was taken. I only look at what he does on the ice and his style of play when evaluating him.

Him being a 4th round pick and constantly "playing up and down the lineup" meant nothing to me.

Play better and you won't bounce around the lineup.

Easiest way for you to begin to appreciate draft position, how many other players taken his round would get you Nick Ritchie today?

If you draft a quarter and it becomes a dollar ... I don't understand how you can't care about that?

Edit: And that's knowing most quarters drafted become worthless.

 

[ODAAT]

Still don’t understand why he was given PP time and not PK time. That’ll never make sense to me.

agreed, I`ll always appreciate Danton, if he was producing, he`d still be a Bruin, not sure Butch ever used him correctly and some of that a bit out of his control with some of the injuries but in his rookie year, anyone know how many games he played with Nash and I believe Backes? I seem to recall more than enough to have created some solid chemistry

 

[ODAAT]

With all due respect. This is another thing that bothered me about the pro-Heinen crowd. I can only speak for myself, but once a guy is drafted or aquired by the Bruins I don't care one bit where he was taken. I only look at what he does on the ice and his style of play when evaluating him.

Him being a 4th round pick and constantly "playing up and down the lineup" meant nothing to me.

Play better and you won't bounce around the lineup.

what about the same crowd being down on a first rounder who hasn`t yet or didn`t become what we think they should have?

When Heinen was picked years ago, nobody here outside of "maybe" a few had even heard of the kid and I`ll wager was on nobodies radar to really pay much attention to and why? Because he`s a 4th rounder. Scouts don`t solely earn their money on what they identify as a good 1st round pick, it`s when they are in the thick of mid level to later rounds, Bjork/Heinen kind of picks.

Ritchie was a top 10 pick by the Ducks, wonder if Duck fans are super pumped at how he developed prior to being traded? An argument can be made that this being his 6th year in the league, one could understand a fans frustration knowing their 10th pick in the first round hasn`t exceeded 14 goals

Do I lose sleep over which picks did or didn`t make it? Nope, I`m part of the pro Heinen crowd but also believe I was one of those who recognized without argument that he needed to contribute more offensively which he simply stopped doing over the last season and a half. Now he`s getting loads of ice time in Anaheim and appears like he`s doing well, same as Ritchie here, good trade for both teams, a former 1st rounder being moved for a 4th rounder

 

[Sheppy]

I think he's a decent hockey player, but not great. From what i saw of him, he was pretty well liked, and that's all good. My issues with him was just his inconsistent play. He would score, go 10 games without doing anything, and then collect another, then another 6 games without anything.

He had solid hockey sense, and you could tell he was a smart player, but he just isn't a horse that i'd go to war with. This may seem a bit nitpicky, and i admit, i do nitpick things with Heinen, but i believe every single Bruins player had a fighting major at some point and I'm not even so sure that Heinen got a roughing penalty. It's just something that irritated me with him. I just didn't see any intensity with him. I get that he wasn't "that type of player" but good god, you'd take a roughing by accident at some time, no?

He's just a guy who i thought some overvalued, especially last year when people say he was "one of our better players" in the post season. That's false. Absolutely false.

I wish him nothing but the best. I didn't hate the guy, I just didn't like how he played.

 

[BlackFrancis]

Easiest way for you to begin to appreciate draft position, how many other players taken his round would get you Nick Ritchie today?

If you draft a quarter and it becomes a dollar ... I don't understand how you can't care about that?

Edit: And that's knowing most quarters drafted become worthless.

In this analogy, Heinen is a quarter that turned into a dollar, then back into a quarter and got stuck in the Coke machine halfway through his rookie season.

 

[False Start]

You know, I think his eye test failed miserably and if I had the time I would've made a "WTF are you doing Danton Heinen edition."

I found myself through most of this season and last year thinking why on earth Danton Heinen made this play when he could've done anything other than that. He was a player who consistently made me want to pull my hair out.

Too slow to make an impact with his feet. He actually has great hands but he doesn't have the confidence to beat players 1 on 1. He has a good heavy, accurate shot but doesn't disguise it enough to be a good shooter. He has good hockey sense until he makes weird ass plays that end up in mind blowing turnovers. He plays soft defensive coverage, the opposite of hounding the puck, like what I'm seeing from Kase.

At the end of the day he still produced at a .4 clip. That's NOT A BAD NHLer. I just hated watching him make 1 great play for every 10 wtf, that was bad, plays. Colin Miller was similar in that regard when he was here in Boston.

 

[ODAAT]

I think he's a decent hockey player, but not great. From what i saw of him, he was pretty well liked, and that's all good. My issues with him was just his inconsistent play. He would score, go 10 games without doing anything, and then collect another, then another 6 games without anything.

He had solid hockey sense, and you could tell he was a smart player, but he just isn't a horse that i'd go to war with. This may seem a bit nitpicky, and i admit, i do nitpick things with Heinen, but i believe every single Bruins player had a fighting major at some point and I'm not even so sure that Heinen got a roughing penalty. It's just something that irritated me with him. I just didn't see any intensity with him. I get that he wasn't "that type of player" but good god, you'd take a roughing by accident at some time, no?

He's just a guy who i thought some overvalued, especially last year when people say he was "one of our better players" in the post season. That's false. Absolutely false.

I wish him nothing but the best. I didn't hate the guy, I just didn't like how he played.

well said friend, ironically we could say much of the same about Jake, the biggest difference between the two is that we all know Jake, at some point, goes on heaters and puts up silly numbers but my biggest issue with Jake is when his offensive game isn`t clicking, it drastically affects his attention to details in the other 2 zones on the ice yet the kid gets waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too many free passes here from the Debrusk fanboy/fangirls IMO

PS as one of those Heinen fan boys I can say without hesitation, he wasn`t close to being one of our best players in the playoffs

 

[ON3M4N]

agreed, I`ll always appreciate Danton, if he was producing, he`d still be a Bruin, not sure Butch ever used him correctly and some of that a bit out of his control with some of the injuries but in his rookie year, anyone know how many games he played with Nash and I believe Backes? I seem to recall more than enough to have created some solid chemistry

Don't know games, but I can tell you the TOI he had with them lol

Backes - 439 minutes
Nash - 422 minutes

The next closest forwards were:

Pastrnak - 149 minutes
Bergeron - 139 minutes

 

[ODAAT]

Don't know games, but I can tell you the TOI he had with them lol

Backes - 439 minutes
Nash - 422 minutes

The next closest forwards were:

Pastrnak - 149 minutes
Bergeron - 139 minutes

thx friend, was harping on here and always will be when speaking on chemistry, it`s the rarity not the norm that chemistry is created immediately and sometimes it`s simple luck, ya just never know who will compliment each other well and why but that trio was simply solid, obviously this team was killed by injuries last year and part of this one and Butch has to move bodies up and down the lineup but he`s far too quick with some to pull them off one line then onto another but clearly I`m nitpicking as I look at the standings and see where our boys are

 

[Sheppy]

JDB has been irritating me a bit this year, too. That said, one thing I'm sure of is that JDB will elevate his game come April. He even goes into a bit of an agitating role. Everything about Heinen seems to stay the same when April hits, that extra gear seems non existent.

 

[LouJersey]

Still don’t understand why he was given PP time and not PK time. That’ll never make sense to me.

Bruins are weird. No PK for Smith and then Heinen....No center for Backes and Seguin... No Jagr on Krecji's line...No MoJo on line 2 after he looked great there before his concussion...some odd things.