(BUFFALO, NY) We often hear that the Canadian’s replacement up front is, again, small.
If it is true that Cole Caufield, Rafaël Harvey-Pinard and Sean Farrell are light on their skates, the Habs nevertheless have some colossi in their pipeline.
Kirby Dach, without being a prospect at this point in his career, could nevertheless play for a long time in Montreal, at his height of 6 ft 4. Juraj Slafkovsky is a piece. At 6′ and a protruding chest for an 18 year old guy, Owen Beck has a good size.
To this group, we must now add Emil Heineman, a name that is circulating more and more. In the Canadian’s updated measurements, the Swede is listed at 6’2 and 202 lbs, which is 8 lbs more than this summer. As we looked around the rink during Friday’s morning practice, we quickly noticed that we were dealing with a man among the teenagers. He was also the only one of the 12 CH forwards in uniform on Friday to weigh 200 lbs.
That said, weight is not everything, otherwise King Kong Bundy, Butterbean and Louis Cyr would have had prolific careers on ice. But this framework can be an interesting tool. And it works well, that’s precisely what Jean-François Houle sees in him.
“He has a good skating ability and he’s good at protecting the puck, for a European,” Houle observed Friday morning. In Europe the ice is so much bigger, they’re not often along the ramps. For a European, he protects her very well, and when he has her, he lets her go quickly. When he receives it, it doesn’t stay on his stick for long. »
A good shot
In addition to his enviable size, Heineman is blessed with a blistering shot, a shot that allowed him to score seven goals in 11 games late last spring, after his season in Sweden ended.
Bjorn Hellkvist has seen this shot up close, having managed Heineman at Leksands for the last three seasons.
“If you want to get the most out of him, you have to play him off the wing (right), so that he can use his shot better, because he really has quite a shot,” observes Hellkvist, on the other end of the line.
“Its explosion is its main strength. Add his synchronism, his hand-eye coordination, his quickdraw… Few players have such a shot. But he has to figure out how to get to the paying areas. »
Paradoxically, these tools did not make Heineman a dominant player offensively. During his three full seasons at Leksands, Heineman scored 26 goals in 116 games. For comparison, Artturi Lehkonen, the last permanent Canadian striker to have been trained in the Swedish first division, scored 24 goals in 96 games in the same league. And at the risk of adding salt to the wound, it was only in his last months with the CH, then with the Avalanche, that Lehkonen blossomed offensively. In short, nothing announces a future player from the first two trios.
“I feel like my game is pretty simple,” described the main player. I try to shoot from everywhere, to play in a straight line, not to complicate the game. I try to find open spaces, but it’s different here, on a narrower ice rink. »
Is he ready?
One fact remains: Heineman turns heads. Asked to identify the player who impressed him the most at the start of rookie camp on Thursday, Logan Mailloux named Heineman. “He knows how to shoot a puck, and he fights hard in the corners,” described the defender, himself rather strong.
Martin Laperrière, assistant coach at the Rocket, also had good words. “He opened our eyes with his talent and his throwing. He had an impact as soon as he arrived in Laval,” he said, regarding the end of last season.
Friday morning, Houle said he expected Heineman, because of his experience and size, to stand out in the evening against the Sabres. “He played pro two years in Europe. Guys like that should come out here,” predicted Houle. Employed in a trio with Beck and Joshua Roy, he ultimately had a mixed evening.
Still, Heineman has the tools to stay up late in camp, especially if established attackers fall in battle. He probably didn’t get the start he wanted, but he will have plenty of time to recover.