The 2024 year was supposed to be different for the Montreal Canadiens. They believed their rebuild was starting to end, and they wondered whether 2024 would end with them looking ahead to a run at the playoffs in 2025. The year ended with a string of wins that elevated them to sixth place in the Atlantic Division, but they are still seven points behind in a playoff race. This series will examine how each player performed over the 2024 calendar year. Next up is rookie Emil Heineman.
Heineman wasn't sure how the second half of his 2024 would pan out. He played 48 games with the Laval Rocket in 2023-24 and appeared in four with the Canadiens. Heineman had an outside shot of making the team heading into the 2024 training camp, but plenty of things were working against him. The acquisition of Patrik Laine and Oliver Kapanen's arrival to camp from Europe conceivably eliminated two spots from Heineman.
The first domino for Heineman's full-time spot with the Canadiens fell when Laine suffered his knee injury in the preseason. Clearly, he would be out for months, and another player would have to fill the void. It looked like a two-horse race, with an outside chance of Heineman and Kapanen making the team.
Both rookies ended training camp on fire, leading to them making the team. There would have to be a decision made once Laine got healthy, but they were able to push it down the road. The second domino that fell in Heineman's favor was the contract status of Kapanen.
It's unlikely that Heineman would find himself in Laval at this point, but the Canadiens wanted to keep a rookie around that gave them more flexibility. When the time came to create an open spot for Laine, Kapanen made the most sense as the departure. He had a spot waiting for him in the SHL, and his contract stated that he couldn't go to the American Hockey League.
The Canadiens don't regret their decision to keep Heineman. He has 15 points in 35 games, and he is a few bad games from Alex Newhook or Kirby Dach away from finding a home in the top six. Heineman will look back on 2024 as the year that his career changed forever, and the Canadiens will look at it as the year they found a surprising new weapon to add to their future contending lineup.