Bruins sign forward Danton Heinen to a 1-year contract
With injuries to both Milan Lucic and Jakub Lauko, the Bruins finally turned Danton Heinen’s professional tryout (PTO) deal into a one-year deal.
The Bruins announced the official signing of Heinen just hours before the puck dropped on game with the Panthers. His deal will run through the remainder of the 2023-24 season with an NHL cap hit of $775,000.
The 28-year-old played in three games with the Bruins during the preseason and waited for roughly two months to land a spot with the main roster.
“I mean, there’s a lot of moving parts and a lot up in the air,” Heinen said of his status on Monday morning at Warrior Arena. “But they’ve been great with communicating with me and the staff working with me and trainers and stuff like that to keep me ready. So that’s just my mindset the whole time is to be ready.”
Heinen will now begin his second stint with the Bruins. He has played 220 career games with wearing the black and gold, scoring 34 goals and posted 103 points, serving as a versatile forward across the lineup from 2016-20.
Boston traded Heinen to the Ducks at the 2020 trade deadline for Nick Ritchie. Heinen would spend a year and half with Anaheim before landing with the Penguins. He scored a career-high 18 goals in 2021-2022, but saw a massive decline in his offensive performance the following season. He amassed just 22 points in over 65 games in 2022-2023.
“I’ve been really impressed — because when we do practice and there’s opportunities for him to make plays or penalty kill, he’s been very noticeable,” Jim Montgomery said of Heinen’s performances during practice. “ He’s making a lot of plays, a lot of smart plays. He’s got really soft hands.
“He can make a lot of plays. So doesn’t matter who he’s gone with. It seems like he has more energy, I think, than other people. … His practices are his games right now.”
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