This is what I love about this place….and this example has nothing to do with my dislike for Heinen. It’s just the most glaring and easiest to detail.
With that being said…….very, very, very few forwards had a worse season last year than Heinen did…including an impressive (even by his standards) 34 game goalless streak.
He got let go by the currently out of the playoffs, Pittsburgh Penguins, seemingly didn’t get an offer from anyone until the B’s reached out in late August and probably would be playing for or against Frolunda right now if Monty wasn’t the coach.
He’s made the giant leap from marginal NHL’er to mediocre NHL’er and he was welcomed here with open arms and is talked about like he’s the second coming of should be Hall of Famer Brian Propp by many on this board.
Yet….apparently every other marginal/mediocre player in the league is entirely incapable of improving their game or adding anything positive if they were to come here…..especially (to some) if they body check better than they poke check.
As I’ve always said….about 30-40% of this league is made up of interchangeable JAG’s. Sometimes a team hits and a bunch of their JAG’s over perform and it leads to unexpected team success. Sometimes the JAG’s just do what’s expected and a lot of the time they underperform.
What a particular JAG excels in, is sometimes the perfect fit to what an acquiring team needs.
Usually, faceoff or PK ability or toughness, hitting. If they brought scoring they wouldn’t be a JAG.
Open your minds people. When someone suggests a trade target, they’re usually not saying the guy is going to come here and score 18 playoff goals and lead them to a cup.
They’re looking to find a guy who can be acquired, who fills a need.
