The puck bounced perfectly for Danton Heinen.
In the Pittsburgh Penguins’ regular season finale April 17, the winger was killing a penalty when Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin blindly fired a wrister from the left point of the offensive zone.
Heinen was applying pressure and partially blocked the puck which wound up striking off the stick of Capitals forward Andrew Mangiapane and then deflecting into the neutral zone.
Heinen identified the opportunity instantly and chased down the puck to create his own breakaway. Approaching the upper hashmarks in Washington’s zone, Heinen lifted a wrister that beat goaltender Clay Stevenson’s blocker and helped secure a 5-2 victory.
Pittsburgh goal!
Scored by Danton Heinen with 11:14 remaining in the 3rd period.
Pittsburgh: 4
Washington: 2#WSHvsPIT#LetsGoPens#ALLCAPSpic.twitter.com/2zLNyPX2iE— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) April 18, 2025
“Just (penalty killing), kind of had it on the run,” Heinen said after the game. “I just tried to make a play. Lucky enough, it ended up on my stick.”
It was a wonderful way for Heinen to end the season.
As for the rest of the season, Heinen probably wouldn’t mind a rewrite.
Splitting the 2024-25 campaign between the Penguins and Vancouver Canucks, Heinen appeared in 79 games and scored 29 points (nine goals, 20 assists) while averaging 13:27 of ice time per contest.
After being re-acquired by the Penguins in a trade on Feb. 1, Heinen played in 28 games and posted 11 points (three goals, eight assists) and clocked 12:32 of ice time per contest.
“It was ups and downs,” Heinen said. “A little bit of a whirlwind this year. Different stuff going on. The trade. Just a little bit of a roller coaster. It is what it is. Try to learn from different things and try to get better.”
Heinen has been better in the NHL and even in his previous stint with the Penguins during the 2021-22 and 2022-23 campaigns.
In particular, he helped the team cope with injury-related absences by franchise centers Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin in 2021-22 by scoring a career-best 18 goals.
And last season, as a member of the Boston Bruins, he spent significant time on that squad’s top line and scored 17 goals in 74 games.
But the British Columbia native failed to threaten those marks this season after joining his hometown Canucks as a free agent in the 2024 offseason, signing a two-year contract with a salary cap hit of $2.25 million.
Heinen, 29, is vague over what ailed him during the season but acknowledges something was askew.
“There’s certain things,” Heinen said. “Everybody got’s stuff going on. I didn’t feel great physically. I know I can be a lot better. That’s something that I want to be next year.”
Penguins management has some much bigger issues — i.e. players with larger contracts — to address this upcoming offseason than Heinen. But there appears to be faith in retaining him and allowing him to occupy a specific role moving forward.
“He’s probably not a top-six forward but he has the offensive instincts to play in the top six, if that makes sense,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “Those types of players are invaluable. I think he’s a very good third-line player on teams that brings an element of offense and a conscientious game to that type of line but has the ability to play up the lineup if necessary through injury or things of that nature.
“Those types of players, in my mind, are invaluable to have on your team. Danton has the capability of doing that.”
Heinen’s ability to generate sufficient offense in that type of role isn’t in doubt. But his consistency with that task is fair to question.
There have been considerable fluctuations in his offensive figures throughout his career and that’s why he has been on the move so often through his nine seasons in the NHL.
After his strong 2021-22 season with the Penguins, Heinen struggled throughout 2022-23, posting only 22 points (eight goals, 14 assists) in 65 games (while being a healthy scratch for 17 games).
Who is the real Danton Heinen presumably returning to the Penguins in 2024-25?
“I think I’m a guy that can produce,” Heinen said. “That’s me. I think I’m a top-nine guy for sure. I can be up and down the lineup when needed. I can help offensively.
“That’s what I believe I can do and I’m going to keep on working to prove people that.”