There Montreal Canadiens forward Emil Heineman was, with the Habs down by two goals in the third, on the power play against the Chicago Blackhawks. They ultimately lost that game, their first of 2025 on Jan. 3, by a score of 4-2. Still, there were undeniable positive takeaways, as disappointing as it was to lose to a team in last place.
Heineman was at the top of the list as a bright spot, as he has been for most of the season. He may fly under the radar with fellow-rookie Lane Hutson (justifiably) receiving most of the attention, but narrowly losing out to his teammate for December rookie-of-the-month honours is nothing at which to scoff. In the month, Heineman scored four goals and nine points in 14 games.
Heineman Find Success on Fourth Line
Overall, Heineman has 17 points in 38 games, his latest coming in the form of the alluded-to goal at the top, which narrowed the gap at the time to 3-2. Obviously, the Blackhawks added another to close the scoring, but the point is Heineman is contributing, albeit in the bottom six for all intents and purposes. As the aforementioned go-ahead-goal against the Hawks would indicate, he’s also contributing on the power play, with four points (three goals) thereon, having clearly earned the trust of the coaching staff. His 1:02 per game on the man advantage would attest to that fact.
All that to say, Heineman is getting his fair share of looks, despite playing on what some would consider the fourth line, centered by Jake Evans and flanked on the other side by Joel Armia. So, there is theoretical room for him to move up the lineup and get rewarded for his production so far… only there isn’t actually. For him to move up, someone would have to move down. Arguably the likeliest candidate at Heineman’s position to get “demoted” is Josh Anderson, but, at a $5.5 million cap hit, the Canadiens are simply unlikely to go down that road, especially when by most accounts his line with centre Christian Dvorak and fellow-winger Brendan Gallagher is working.
That encapsulates the argument against moving Heineman up the lineup perfectly. He, Armia and Evans have palpable chemistry too to the point, when combined with the Dvorak line, the Canadiens can theoretically roll four, especially with signs that the second, centered by Kirby Dach, is on the verge of getting going itself. Granted, that line can be seen as the weakest link on the team, but it’s worth noting with winger Patrik Laine out with flu-like symptoms, rather than rejigging his lineup, head coach Martin St. Louis opted to finally reinsert depth-forward and recurring-healthy-scratch Michael Pezzetta on that second line in the Finn’s absence. That should speak volumes regarding how he views his team’s overall level of cohesion top to bottom.
Heineman vs. Ylonen
Ultimately, if the Canadiens are going to make a run at a postseason appearance and look at themselves in the mirror as a playoff-calibre team, they need to roll four lines. That makes Heineman and his high level of play as a fourth-line winger a huge asset. For that reason, it made sense why the Habs may have wanted to “bury,” for a poor choice of words, ex-Hab Jesse Ylonen on the fourth line in 2023-24 despite him having shown top-six potential, especially the previous season, having gotten time due to a rash of injuries on the top line with Nick Suzuki and Rafael Harvey-Pinard. The difference is, Heineman’s skill set lends itself better to effective checking-line duty. So, similar to with Owen Beck who projects as a bottom-six centre, Heineman isn’t as at risk of getting lost in the shuffle playing where he is, especially while getting power-play time.
So, while normally you’d want to put your prospects in the best position to succeed, St. Louis seems to be doing exactly that here. Of course, Heineman may develop to the point where you can no longer keep him where he is. There’s no denying any top-six group looks better with a little grit mixed in and he could conceivably turn out to be what they tried to make Anderson into, putting him time and again on one of the top two lines without much success. Anderson is subject to far less criticism these days, not necessarily due to increased production relative to his nightmarish 2023-24 season, but rather lower expectations, as he sticks to his strengths like his physicality and speed instead of trying to create offense. As has been evident throughout this season, Heineman has a significantly better shot, not just literally but metaphorically as an eventual top-six forward (just with less size). It just doesn’t need to be now, though.
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Maybe that changes next season. At least four forwards should be moving on. Armia, Dvorak, Evans and Pezzetta will be unrestricted free agents. With possible exception to Pezzetta, assuming he’s on board with staying on in the same capacity as a 13th forward, it doesn’t make sense to re-sign any of them, including Evans, despite his career season. Alex Newhook could hopefully move down to fill one of the opening slots at centre, where he found relative success last season. That would in turn open up a top-six spot on the wing.
Of course, with prospects Ivan Demidov and Joshua Roy projected to compete for roster spots themselves, nothing is guaranteed. With Demidov at least projected as a superstar offensive talent, logic dictates again the Habs place him where he’ll be the most effective. That Heineman has been as effective as he has playing in the bottom six doesn’t have to be a problem. It’s at least a good problem to have for when the Habs must determine where to play him once both his current linemates presumably move on. That’s what training camp is for, namely next training camp. If the Habs remain “in the mix” for a playoff spot in 2025, it may not make sense to trade them by the deadline… just like it doesn’t to fix what isn’t broken with regard to Heineman.