Montreal Canadiens: Why You Should Be Excited About New Prospect Emil Heineman

The Montreal Canadiens began selling assets well ahead of the 2022 NHL trade deadline.

Their first big deal, and the first real big trade of the 2021-22 trade season, involved sending Tyler Toffoli to the Calgary Flames for a pile of futures.

The deal was first reported by TSN Insider Darren Dreger as Toffoli for a 2022 1st round pick, a 5th round pick, depth winger Tyler Pitlick and a prospect. This sent Habs fans into a frenzy on twitter, believing they got one of the Flames very best prospects like recent first round picks Jakob Pelletier or Matt Coronato.

The thought of adding one of those elite prospects made it kind of sobering when it was announced that Emil Heineman was the young player heading to Montreal in the package. But that is not fair to Heineman. There are plenty of reasons to be excited about adding this player to the Habs prospect cupboard.

Heineman was the Florida Panthers second round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft. The Swedish winger had a tremendous 2019-20 season in the top Junior league in Sweden for Leksands. He played 29 games that year and scored 26 goals and 41 points. That put him 18th in the league scoring race even though he played about a quarter of the season in the SHL, Sweden’s top pro league.

The 6’1″ left shooting winger was fourth in the league in goals that season, and no one has a better goals per game average than his .896. Also, Heineman was just 18 that season while most of the top scorers in the league were a year older.

This season, the Habs new recruit is playing in SHL for Leksands. He just turned 20 in November and has 11 goals and 16 points in 37 games this season. Those numbers don’t sound incredible but when compared to players his age, playing pro in Sweden, they look incredible.

HIs 11 goals in SHL this season rank 24th in the league. Most players ahead of him are much, much older and many have years of NHL experience. It really is impressive production for a player who started the season as a teenager.

Heineman can certainly put pucks in the net with a lethal shot. When he gets a chance with the puck, he is dangerous from well out.

One thing that really stands out when watching Heineman is his speed. He is a good sized winger at 6’1″ and 185 pounds but he can really fly down the wing with the puck. The mix of size, speed and skill is intriguing.

The native of Leksand, Sweden also really loves to play a physical game. When asked about his style of game, Heineman was quick to point out he really loved when he was a kid and became old enough to play in a league with hitting. He was smaller than most at the time but really enjoyed the battles with bigger opponents.

He has since gone through a significant growth spurt, but still brings a nasty, physical edge to the forecheck and in battling for pucks.

There is never a guarantee when trying to predict what type of player a prospect all become. But Heineman brings a very interesting combination of size, speed, skill and physicality.

Heineman may not be one of the Flames very best prospects, like Pelletier and Coronato, but he has a lot of tools that will translate to the NHL and is definitely a prospect to be excited about.