Let me preface what I’m about to say by making two things completely clear.
1) I’m a total Heinen fanboy.
2) Cassidy has done a fantastic job overall with the B’s since he was hired.
That said, I am not a fan of the way he’s been handling Heinen so far this year.
Inserts him on the second line for the first game and leaves him there for all of two periods, even though he wasn’t bad and Krejci was sleepwalking the entire game. Twice now, after Heinen has been called for a questionable stick infraction, Cassidy has benched him. I’m getting a Sobotka v2.0 vibe from the situation right now and that’s not good as it was completely botched by Clode.
All players make mistakes. Young ones sometimes make more of them. I thought that Heinen was excellent last night in the NZ. He made two/three strong defensive plays that resulted in turnovers, calmly gained possession, and dished the puck to an open guy. He had a body or a stick in passing lanes all game. When a player does that, you are bound to get the occasional stick infraction. I thought the call was questionable. McDavid tried to cut back at the last minute, basically skated into Heinen’s stick, and then clamped down and sold it.
My greater point is that it bugs the **** out of me when coaches employ a double standard when it comes to vets and rookies as far as sitting goes (and not just Heinen). Cassidy has no issue benching Heinen or having Donato on the 9th floor, which is fine if warranted, but do the same for the vets.
Krejci was not good in the first few games, but gets a pass. Backes has made some bad plays, but gets rolled out there every shift. Marchand was very lackadaisical throughout the preseason and in game 1. Chara has made some pretty bad plays this year, including bad pinches and not being able to cover McDavid last night (a common issue for D I guess).
I realize these guys are team leaders and veterans, but I have always felt that they should be held to the same standards as the rookies.
I know it won’t happen, but wanted to get that off my chest