Emil Heineman had reason to be concerned about his hockey future when the Canadiens acquired him from the Calgary Flames two years ago on Valentine’s Day.
At the time, Heineman appeared to be a throw-in in the trade. Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes sent Tyler Toffoli to the Flames in exchange for a first-round pick at the 2022 NHL Draft (used to select forward Filip Mesar), a fifth-round pick in 2023 (Russian goalie Yevgeni Volokhin), Tyler Pitlick and Heineman.
Heineman was 21 at the time and was playing for Leksands IF in the Swedish Hockey League. It marked the second time he had been traded since being selected by the Florida Panthers in the second round (43rd overall) of the 2020 NHL Draft. Less than a year after getting drafted, the Panthers sent Heineman to the Flames as part of a deal that brought Sam Bennett to Florida.
Heineman hadn’t even attended an NHL training camp yet and had already been traded twice.
“I was talking to my agent at that point,” Heineman recalled. “’What does this mean being tossed around like this?’
“There was a lot of phone calls that day,” Heineman added. “I remember it was weird because it was the second time and I didn’t know what to take out of this.”
Then Heineman’s phone rang again and it was Hughes, assuring him he wasn’t just a throw-in.
“We wanted Emil to know we insisted he was part of the trade as opposed to someone who happened to be in it,” Hughes said after making the trade.
That phone call meant the world to Heineman.
“He called me and made it sure to me that they wanted me,” Heineman said. “That made it way better. He insured me and it calmed me down a little bit and then just take it from there. Get over here and this new chapter of just being excited to get going. Then I got to come over here. I never went to Florida or Calgary, so it was fun to get over here, see all the people. That helped a lot.”
To highlight how much Hughes wanted Heineman, the 6-foot-2, 198-pound winger started training camp before last season on the No. 1 line with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield. Heineman ended up being one of the last cuts at that training camp and was sent to the AHL’s Laval Rocket. During his second game with Laval last season, Heineman suffered a concussion when a referee accidentally kneed him in the head while trying to jump out of the way. Heineman was sidelined for 20 games and ended up posting 15-14-29 totals in 48 games with the Rocket.
This season Heineman has shown Canadiens fans why Hughes insisted he be part of the trade with Calgary.
Heineman had 10-7-17 totals in 41 games — ranking third among NHL rookies in goals and seventh in points — before suffering another freak injury on Jan. 13 when he was hit by a car as a pedestrian when the Canadiens were in Utah. Heineman missed 14 games and the Canadiens went 5-8-1 without him.
The Canadiens won their first two games with Heineman back in the lineup before facing the San Jose Sharks Thursday (7 p.m., TSN2, RDS).
Heineman has been part of a very effective fourth line with Jake Evans and Joel Armia that isn’t really a fourth line. Head coach Martin St. Louis likes to start games with them on the ice to set the tone.
Before facing the Sharks, Heineman had 10-7-17 totals and a plus-2 differential while averaging 11:14 of ice time per game, which ranked 12th among Canadiens forwards. Despite missing 15 games (he was also a healthy scratch for the second game of the season) and the limited ice time, only five Canadiens had scored more goals than Heineman: Cole Caufield (27), Nick Suzuki (16), Brendan Gallagher (15), Patrik Laine (14) and Evans (11). Heineman had the same number of goals as Juraj Slafkovsky, who had played 55 games and averaged 16:50 of ice time while playing with Suzuki and Caufield.
Heineman also ranked fourth on the Canadiens in hits with 109, trailing Arber Xhekaj (147), Slafkovsky (133) and Josh Anderson (125). Remember, Heineman has missed 15 games.
One of the many things I like about Heineman as a player is that you notice him every time he’s on the ice, whether it be his speed, his shot, a hit or a hard backcheck. It’s something St. Louis notices also.
“Of course, he’s a great skater and he brings some heaviness to the game,” St. Louis said after Tuesday’s 4-0 win over the Carolina Hurricanes. “He plays with a lot of pace, he’s got a great shot. I feel he’s just ready to play the game that’s in front of him. He’s not just like, ‘I hope I get to do this, I hope I get to do that.’ No, no. He’s just reacting to the game that’s in front of him.”
Is Heineman happy now that he was traded to the Canadiens?
“Yeah!” he said with a big smile and a chuckle. “For sure.”