With Jason Zucker out on a week-to-week basis, the Pittsburgh Penguins will turn to Danton Heinen in the top six.
Thanks to a lower-body injury to Jason Zucker, it seems like Danton Heinen will find his way back into the Pittsburgh Penguins lineup.
If nothing changes from their last practice, Heinen will not only return to the lineup, but play on the Penguins second line.
Along side Evgeni Malkin and Bryan Rust, Zucker was having a flourishing season, on that he hasn’t seen since joining the team.
In 27 games, Zucker put up six goals and 14 assists for 20 points and was on pace for one of the best seasons of his career.
Injuries again get in the way, and it’s up to Heinen to take over the roster spot; what does Heinen bring?
“We believe in him, we know he’s a good player,” Sullivan said. “We know he’s going to be a big part of this team.”
Heinen has been a healthy scratch in five of the last seven games for the Penguins and was replaced with Kasperi Kapanen on the third line.
Everyone in the locker room loves to talk about how good Heinen’s shot is; it’s one of the reasons he was utilized on the first line in replacement of Jake Guentzel early this season.
Since the first few games of the season, though, Heinen hasn’t had the same production.
In his 24 games played, Heinen has scored three goals and seven assists for 10 points; he hasn’t scored a goal since his two-goal game against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
If Heinen finds himself on the Penguins second line, it’ll be a new challenge for him.
The second line of the Penguins has been one of the best in terms of analytics in the NHL and Heinein will have to help maintain that pace.
“He has great offensive instincts,” Sullivan said. “He’s a guy that we can plug into the top six. We believe he’s capable of having success there.”
This isn’t so much of a ‘last chance’ for Heinen, but another opportunity to find what he had last year.
In 76 games during the 2021-22 season, Heinen scored 33 points (18G-15A) and was one of the best depth options on the team.
Heinen is still searching for that consistency, but maybe he can find it with Malkin as his center; Malkin has been an assist machine recently with eight in his last 6 games.
Combine Malkin’s ability to set up his teammates and Heinen’s touted shot, maybe there’s something to be unearthed here.
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