Confirmed with Link: [ANA/BOS] Danton Heinen for Nick Ritchie

[The Mighty Duck Man]

I never realized how many penalties Nick took, at a rate higher than anyone in the league apparently. That's pretty rough, especially when many just aren't very good.

 

[bracer028]

I never realized how many penalties Nick took, at a rate higher than anyone in the league apparently. That's pretty rough, especially when many just aren't very good.

The league isn't about hard hitting anymore. That is why he gets so many of those

 

[Sheppy]

Bruins fan here: Danton Heinen is pretty solid defensively, but his offensive ability is really, really inconsistent. He will score, go 8-9 games and be absolutely invisible, then score, and repeat. I'm probably a "Heinen hater" on the Bruins board because he's just too, meh. Like he's just kind of there. He offers no physicality, and to this day i have never seen him enter a scrum, or come to any sort of defence of a teammate. That's one of the biggest issues I have with him. He's an every day NHL player, but he's just super, super vanilla. I hope he can get his game together for you guys, though. I also hope Nick can give us something we're lacking in our top 9, which is physicality and a bit of offense.

 

[Lyons71]

Ritchie hasn't done jack shit this year. He hasn't been very physical. Doesn't even fight, doesn't deter anyone. Takes stupid ass penalties every game. 90% of this board wanted him traded last season. Now that he's gone, it's the end of the world? Hahaha

Yeah, I agree with you. He squanders chances and takes bad penalties. He’s constantly behind the play, but had a good game yesterday so that erases his years of crap.

 

[Dirk316]

Bruins fan here: Danton Heinen is pretty solid defensively, but his offensive ability is really, really inconsistent. He will score, go 8-9 games and be absolutely invisible, then score, and repeat. I'm probably a "Heinen hater" on the Bruins board because he's just too, meh. Like he's just kind of there. He offers no physicality, and to this day i have never seen him enter a scrum, or come to any sort of defence of a teammate. That's one of the biggest issues I have with him. He's an every day NHL player, but he's just super, super vanilla. I hope he can get his game together for you guys, though. I also hope Nick can give us something we're lacking in our top 9, which is physicality and a bit of offense.

Unfortunately many Anaheim fans love players like this and physical players like Ritchie are ripped to shreds. I can't wait for the Heinen Henrique Terry 2nd line must see tv

 

[Sheppy]

Unfortunately many Anaheim fans love players like this and physical players like Ritchie are ripped to shreds. I can't wait for the Heinen Henrique Terry 2nd line must see tv

Honestly, it's feeling the same way with Bruins fans on our board these days too. One day these types of players were celebrated, now we have to get the guy who has that good defensive stick check per 60 stat.

I do hope he can bring something to the Ducks though. He seems like a good kid.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

The Bruins Unsung Forward: Danton Heinen

For the past few game threads I've summed the Ducks' game as sloppy, which is for the after we had that huge winning streak at the beginning of the season. This article on Heinen is what the Ducks need more of for their forward corps. The defensive style game mentioned in the article has me thinking Silf on the ice, such that he's defensively responsible and can get the puck out. Heinen could help mitigate some of our sloppiness on the ice.

People are talking about losing Ritchie's scoring, but oft times he's invisible if he's not scoring. Or worse, he's taking ill advised penalties. IMO, this was a good trade if it was to address the sloppiness on the ice. We can win low scoring games if we're the ones who are in control and less sloppiness. There are many games were we're up but two or more goals and then blow the lead. That's abysmal. I think the Ducks traded for a more team efficient player in Heinen.

In the article, they gave an analogy that if you don't hear anything about a defenseman, then he's done his job. Welp, in case of our own Lindholm, he's constantly overlooked because he doesn't score much, but his defense (before this year that is) has been stellar. I'd keep Lindholm over Fowler, Vatanen, or Monty! This might be a similar case for Heinen.

Currently, we're tied for 4th worst in overall standings. A change is welcomed.

 

[Kalv]

Bruins fan here: Danton Heinen is pretty solid defensively, but his offensive ability is really, really inconsistent. He will score, go 8-9 games and be absolutely invisible, then score, and repeat. I'm probably a "Heinen hater" on the Bruins board because he's just too, meh. Like he's just kind of there. He offers no physicality, and to this day i have never seen him enter a scrum, or come to any sort of defence of a teammate. That's one of the biggest issues I have with him. He's an every day NHL player, but he's just super, super vanilla. I hope he can get his game together for you guys, though. I also hope Nick can give us something we're lacking in our top 9, which is physicality and a bit of offense.

Not good to hear it. Then again, the same can be said about Silfverberg. If nothing changes, I don't see Heinen sticking for long but if he's not working out here, won't get much for him

 

[Kalv]

Not good to hear it. Then again, the same can be said about Silfverberg. If nothing changes, I don't see Heinen sticking for long but if he's not working out here, won't get much for him

Ritchie should really help for you in playoffs, just find something to light a fire under his ass

 

[Kalv]

I just quoted myself. I'm out

 

[TheGoodShepard1]

Initially, I was going to kill Bob for doing this, but having some time to think about it, Ritchie is going to ultimately decide which direction this trade goes. If he decides he wants to get the motor revved up and show consistent give a damn, he has the potential to be unstoppable.

Heinen has never really done anything for me though, so we'll see what happens. This trade surprised me though, I always thought if they dealt Ritchie, it'd be in a quantity-for-quality package with him as a secondary piece and not as a 1-for-1

 

[Sheppy]

Not good to hear it. Then again, the same can be said about Silfverberg. If nothing changes, I don't see Heinen sticking for long but if he's not working out here, won't get much for him

I can also fully admit that I'm hard on Heinen, because i just expect him to get a little angrier and hungrier. I think he's a decent hockey player, but i just wish he showed me more.

 

[Goose of Reason]

Bruins fan here: Danton Heinen is pretty solid defensively, but his offensive ability is really, really inconsistent. He will score, go 8-9 games and be absolutely invisible, then score, and repeat. I'm probably a "Heinen hater" on the Bruins board because he's just too, meh. Like he's just kind of there. He offers no physicality, and to this day i have never seen him enter a scrum, or come to any sort of defence of a teammate. That's one of the biggest issues I have with him. He's an every day NHL player, but he's just super, super vanilla. I hope he can get his game together for you guys, though. I also hope Nick can give us something we're lacking in our top 9, which is physicality and a bit of offense.

Sounds like a poor man's Henrique. Can't believe we traded Ritchie for that.

This idea that people have of Ritchie not developing is so weird. Nick a few years ago hit everything that moved and then threw the puck at the net as soon as he got it. Then he started trying to cycle more. At the start of the season he was using his shot more, and lately he's been showing some decent vision and passing. Not to mention his chemistry with Terry and how good of a line those 2 have been with Henrique lately.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

Unfortunately many Anaheim fans love players like this and physical players like Ritchie are ripped to shreds. I can't wait for the Heinen Henrique Terry 2nd line must see tv

Oh you mean someone who plays defense on that forward line now? Huh. Interesting.

Now, as for physical players, I think a majority of Duck fans on HF enjoys Deslauriers. GM Murray also enjoys Deslauriers' physical component that he gave him a two-year extension.

We own the fourth worst record in the league. Something needed to change. Playing a better 200 ft game doesn't sound all that bad to me. Good luck to Ritchie and hopes he puts it all together too.

 

[robbieboy3686]

Is heinen signed long term?

 

[TheGoodShepard1]

Is heinen signed long term?

Signed through next year and then has 2 initial years of control on top of that, just glancing through CapFriendly.

 

[ChuckSurette]

Heinen is a solid 200 ft player, who distributes the puck well. He has a good head for the game, but has been stuck on his off wing for the last 2 years. Bruins had 3 very similar players in Heinen, Bjork and Kuhlman. Seems like 1/2 the Bruins fan base realize he's a young, middle of the road 3rd liner, the other half expects him to be Cam Neeley.

He's not going to goon it up. He's not going to take any penalties. He will set up plays. Has a tendency to make the "extra" pass instead of shooting. If he gets a spot on the left side, you will see more production.

His best season was playing on the LW with Riley Nash and David Backes.

2017-18 16g

31a

47pts

16pim

+10

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

 

[cheesymc]

A majority of his "bad penalties" are from clean hard hits something nobody on this team either than 4th liner Deslauriers does
Enjoy a worse team with less hitting and scoring
Bruins fans should like this deal

Don't worry, we still have heavy hitters in Rakell, Fowler, Terry... the list go on. Haven't you seen Guhle and Larsson dishing out the boom with the opponents shoulder into their chests. It's called great defense.

 

[Over the volcano]

 

[Dirk316]

Don't worry, we still have heavy hitters in Rakell, Fowler, Terry... the list go on. Haven't you seen Guhle and Larsson dishing out the boom with the opponents shoulder into their chests. It's called great defense.

Add Sonny Milano to this list of punishers

 

[Trap Jesus]

Bruins fan here. Heinen is a solid player, I think the main reason Bruins fans are so divisive on him is because we've needed someone that was more aggressive and active than he was, and someone who is a better scorer.

The Good

- Versatility: he was a center in his development but the Bruins always used him at wing in the NHL. He's not the strongest or fastest player, but is smart enough to play the position for sure. Whether that happens in Anaheim I don't know, but I think there's a possibility he could do it. Regardless, it genuinely does not matter whether he's at LW or RW, which you can't say about everyone. He was always the guy on the Bruins that you just fit into any spot because he's equally adept at both sides and has played all over the line-up in his short career. He saw his most success when playing on the Bruins 3rd line in 2017/18: Heinen-Nash-Backes. He's mostly been with Bjork-Coyle-Heinen lately but they used DeBrusk-Krejci-Heinen as well.
- Really cerebral player, understands and processes the game well and makes smart plays on both sides of the puck, albeit not all the time.
- Has great touch on his passes, can thread it through or sauce it over with regularity.
- Has a really good defensive stick, it can help him with puck battles and stripping players of the puck.
- Has a lot of PP experience in a pretty unique role; along with DeBrusk, who they traded out at different times in this spot, he was the down-low puck retrieval guy. It didn't lead to a lot of PP points, but he was still pretty effective at it.

The Bad

- He's one of the more passive players you'll find and seems to play with no aggressiveness at all. He's still effective because he's so smart though. His temperament and style REALLY reminds me of Loui Eriksson (before he fell off a cliff). Difference for Eriksson was that he could clean up the garbage around the net with regularity whereas Heinen doesn't really have the nose for the net.
- I'm really disappointed in how he responded to adversity lately. The trade rumors around him were swirling for a while and he recently got scratched because of performance. I think he's responded to it awfully, and has been playing the worst hockey of his career as of late.
- There's a very clear downward trajectory for his production. He actually came in on fire in his first full year and had 38 points in his first 48 games of the 2017/18 season, but finished that year with 9 in 29 with a very poor playoff showing. You can kind of see where it went from there.
- Has a very clear trend of over-passing. He'll regularly pass off good scoring opportunities, which is a shame because his wrist shot is solid. It's nothing amazing, but you'll find some highlights out there where he's picked corners nicely.
- It's not a negative really but he's pretty vanilla for skills and physical traits. He's kind of a jack-of-all-trades in this regard. Outside of passing and defensive stick he seems very average at everything.
- Despite his good defensive stick he wasn't used on the PK, although the Bruins are deep for PK forwards.

 

[bracer028]

Bruins fan here. Heinen is a solid player, I think the main reason Bruins fans are so divisive on him is because we've needed someone that was more aggressive and active than he was, and someone who is a better scorer.

The Good

- Versatility: he was a center in his development but the Bruins always used him at wing in the NHL. He's not the strongest or fastest player, but is smart enough to play the position for sure. Whether that happens in Anaheim I don't know, but I think there's a possibility he could do it. Regardless, it genuinely does not matter whether he's at LW or RW, which you can't say about everyone. He was always the guy on the Bruins that you just fit into any spot because he's equally adept at both sides and has played all over the line-up in his short career. He saw his most success when playing on the Bruins 3rd line in 2017/18: Heinen-Nash-Backes. He's mostly been with Bjork-Coyle-Heinen lately but they used DeBrusk-Krejci-Heinen as well.
- Really cerebral player, understands and processes the game well and makes smart plays on both sides of the puck, albeit not all the time.
- Has great touch on his passes, can thread it through or sauce it over with regularity.
- Has a really good defensive stick, it can help him with puck battles and stripping players of the puck.
- Has a lot of PP experience in a pretty unique role; along with DeBrusk, who they traded out at different times in this spot, he was the down-low puck retrieval guy. It didn't lead to a lot of PP points, but he was still pretty effective at it.

The Bad

- He's one of the more passive players you'll find and seems to play with no aggressiveness at all. He's still effective because he's so smart though. His temperament and style REALLY reminds me of Loui Eriksson (before he fell off a cliff). Difference for Eriksson was that he could clean up the garbage around the net with regularity whereas Heinen doesn't really have the nose for the net.
- I'm really disappointed in how he responded to adversity lately. The trade rumors around him were swirling for a while and he recently got scratched because of performance. I think he's responded to it awfully, and has been playing the worst hockey of his career as of late.
- There's a very clear downward trajectory for his production. He actually came in on fire in his first full year and had 38 points in his first 48 games of the 2017/18 season, but finished that year with 9 in 29 with a very poor playoff showing. You can kind of see where it went from there.
- Has a very clear trend of over-passing. He'll regularly pass off good scoring opportunities, which is a shame because his wrist shot is solid. It's nothing amazing, but you'll find some highlights out there where he's picked corners nicely.
- It's not a negative really but he's pretty vanilla for skills and physical traits. He's kind of a jack-of-all-trades in this regard. Outside of passing and defensive stick he seems very average at everything.
- Despite his good defensive stick he wasn't used on the PK, although the Bruins are deep for PK forwards.

I like this...i'm tired of all the boneheads we had over the years.

 

[bsu]

Sounds kinda like the scouting report we got for Silf tbh.

 

[cheesymc]

Bruins fan here. Heinen is a solid player, I think the main reason Bruins fans are so divisive on him is because we've needed someone that was more aggressive and active than he was, and someone who is a better scorer.

The Good

- Versatility: he was a center in his development but the Bruins always used him at wing in the NHL. He's not the strongest or fastest player, but is smart enough to play the position for sure. Whether that happens in Anaheim I don't know, but I think there's a possibility he could do it. Regardless, it genuinely does not matter whether he's at LW or RW, which you can't say about everyone. He was always the guy on the Bruins that you just fit into any spot because he's equally adept at both sides and has played all over the line-up in his short career. He saw his most success when playing on the Bruins 3rd line in 2017/18: Heinen-Nash-Backes. He's mostly been with Bjork-Coyle-Heinen lately but they used DeBrusk-Krejci-Heinen as well.
- Really cerebral player, understands and processes the game well and makes smart plays on both sides of the puck, albeit not all the time.
- Has great touch on his passes, can thread it through or sauce it over with regularity.
- Has a really good defensive stick, it can help him with puck battles and stripping players of the puck.
- Has a lot of PP experience in a pretty unique role; along with DeBrusk, who they traded out at different times in this spot, he was the down-low puck retrieval guy. It didn't lead to a lot of PP points, but he was still pretty effective at it.

The Bad

- He's one of the more passive players you'll find and seems to play with no aggressiveness at all. He's still effective because he's so smart though. His temperament and style REALLY reminds me of Loui Eriksson (before he fell off a cliff). Difference for Eriksson was that he could clean up the garbage around the net with regularity whereas Heinen doesn't really have the nose for the net.
- I'm really disappointed in how he responded to adversity lately. The trade rumors around him were swirling for a while and he recently got scratched because of performance. I think he's responded to it awfully, and has been playing the worst hockey of his career as of late.
- There's a very clear downward trajectory for his production. He actually came in on fire in his first full year and had 38 points in his first 48 games of the 2017/18 season, but finished that year with 9 in 29 with a very poor playoff showing. You can kind of see where it went from there.
- Has a very clear trend of over-passing. He'll regularly pass off good scoring opportunities, which is a shame because his wrist shot is solid. It's nothing amazing, but you'll find some highlights out there where he's picked corners nicely.
- It's not a negative really but he's pretty vanilla for skills and physical traits. He's kind of a jack-of-all-trades in this regard. Outside of passing and defensive stick he seems very average at everything.
- Despite his good defensive stick he wasn't used on the PK, although the Bruins are deep for PK forwards.

I stopped reading when you said that the Bruins were “looking for someone more aggressive and a BETTER SCORER.”

So that confirms that Heinen is someone who doesn’t play physical and CANT SCORE on an offensive powerhouse team.

One word: AWESOME.

 

[Absurdity]

Bruins fan here,

My views of Heinen are opposite of Sheppy's. I wasn't against the Bruins trading Heinen, but I just feel meh about this deal. I can see why the Bruins made the trade. They needed an infusion of speed, toughness, and physicality. Let's just say I hope he is a much more different player than his brother Brett.

With Heinen, you are getting a top 9 forward who I think can end up being a regular as a 2nd liner. He's not the prototypical physical player (believe he has as much hits as DeBrusk this season if not more), but he will go to the dirty areas along the boards and in front of the net. He does tend to go on cold spells, but I think if he has consistent linemates that he can build chemistry with, that might remedy that problem. He's also not the fastest.

With that said he has a high hockey IQ, gets in passing lanes, and backchecks. I don't know why Cassidy never played him on the PK because he definitely has the skillset for it. Can play both LW and RW, but in my opinion is better at LW.

He is more of a passer than a shooter which is my biggest knock on him because I think he has the potential to be a consistent 50pt+ player if not better. He scored 47pts in his rookie season playing the majority of the season with Riley Nash and David Backes. If anything, that shows the potential he has.