Player Discussion Emil Heineman (Part 2) - Get well soon Edition

[Toene]

My boy is a beast , he elevates evans and armia to another level

He's already such a complete player in his rookie year. He's not an offensive dynamo but I don't see any weakness to his game. Speed, intensity, physicality, lethal shot, reads the play and reacts quickly. The type of players coaches love.

I know he's so young and he's in a good spot with Armia and Evans but I can't wait to see him used more and more to complete our best forwards.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

At some point, you need to pull the puck on a project, even if you have gotten hints about, maybe, a player getting better.

There might be another year to see if Newhook can actually be better, but my patience, personally, is wearing thin.

As better players get grafted onto the lineup, I will be more and more likely to want to move on from Newhook.

I have no issues with us moving on from Newhook someday but not now. Just stick him on the 3rd.

Same goes for Dach, really. Another chance starting the year at C with Demidov and Laine, hoping that Demidov carries that line in terms of driving pace and play? If Dach just drags down the line, maybe a final try at wing in the top-6?

Other than health there’s no reason to believe Dach will drag down the 2nd line. He’s okayed well for a while now. He’s a bug center who plays physical and is starting to drive to the net. If you move on from him, I think you’ll regret it.

He did pretty well with Caufield and Suzuki in the past when Caufield was less of a play driver and more one-dimensional, and when Suzuki wasn't in his near PPG shape. Maybe he'd be even better with them now than he was then (which really wasn't bad at all) because they are better now as well?

With Dach and Laine it’s all about health.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

My boy is a beast , he elevates evans and armia to another level

Love this guy. He was probably going to finish in the top ten for the Calder too. Right around where I thought Roy would be this year.

 

[OldCraig71]

If Heineman wasn't involved in a freak accident I believe we are in a playoff spot right now. He has been so good with Armia and Evans and that line was giving the opposition fits before we started winning games.

Most shifts see them inside the opposing blue line and they did it against some good teams.

He is more than just a grinder with his great skating and hard shot. He has a sneaky powerful release. He beat Anderson last night but hit the crossbar. On the shot, he had little time and space and position for that matter but was able to rocket the puck.

If he was playing with a more gifted puck distributor it is possible that he could hit 25 goals. In a weird sort of way he reminds me of Pacioretty when he first broke in with the Habs.

 

[Redux91]

He has completely STOLEN Roy's spot on the Habs.. it's crazy
I almost feel bad for Joshua lol..

But Heineman ain't going *nowhere*

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

He has completely STOLEN Roy's spot on the Habs.. it's crazy
I almost feel bad for Joshua lol..

But Heineman ain't going *nowhere*

I feel bad for Roy. He was about to be called up and got hurt. Now his future with us is very much up in the air.

At this point I think he gets traded. And it’s a trade we might really regret

 

[Toene]

If Heineman wasn't involved in a freak accident I believe we are in a playoff spot right now. He has been so good with Armia and Evans and that line was giving the opposition fits before we started winning games.

Most shifts see them inside the opposing blue line and they did it against some good teams.

He is more than just a grinder with his great skating and hard shot. He has a sneaky powerful release. He beat Anderson last night but hit the crossbar. On the shot, he had little time and space and position for that matter but was able to rocket the puck.

If he was playing with a more gifted puck distributor it is possible that he could hit 25 goals. In a weird sort of way he reminds me of Pacioretty when he first broke in with the Habs.

Imo he's way more physical than Patches was. I know Max was more involved physically before the Chara beheading but he never hustled like that on the forecheck whil finishing his hits. I could be wrong though.

 

[OldCraig71]

Imo he's way more physical than Patches was. I know Max was more involved physically before the Chara beheading but he never hustled like that on the forecheck whil finishing his hits. I could be wrong though.

He didn't shy away from making big hits when he first broke in with us but he changed after he delivered a vicious hit on Kris Letang.



This happened in 2011, Max's first 30 goal season. He definitely played a more physical game in his early years. He got a 3 game suspension for that hit and it occurred 7-8 months after the Chara hit. Max wasn't as physical in his years after the hit on Letang. He basically removed that element from his game which was a shame because he would have been one of the best power forwards during his peak years as a Hab.

 

[Rapala]

He has completely STOLEN Roy's spot on the Habs.. it's crazy
I almost feel bad for Joshua lol..

But Heineman ain't going *nowhere*

Right now it could be argued that Owen Beck is playing his role on a wing.
Florian is also right up Roy's ass IMO.
Versatility is the key and the more I watch Joshua play the less I see him being able to crack our top 6 and I certainly don't think he's a bottom 6 player. He's not a player you can rewire and ask to become a defensive stalwart he's shown very little interest in that side of the game. He's just not the Tyler Toffoli type of player I thought he was because of it. I'm not sure what will bring out Desire in this player but the coach clearly hasn't been seeing enough of it.

 

[26Mats]

Habs since Heineman's return: 2-0

Habs without Heineman: 1-10

Stats like that usually don't say much. Because there are so many factors. Like small sample size after the break, Guhle being out, the team being tired before the break and the refreshed afterwards, etc...

But I do like Heineman and hope he can be at least a key part of making one of our bottom six lines highly impactful.

 

[ahmedou]

Habs since Heineman's return: 2-0

Habs without Heineman: 1-10

Habs since Heineman's return: 3-0

Habs without Heineman: 1-10

 

[HuGort]

Heineman with Anderson and Beck will make great energy/physical line next season. They'd score 50 goals.

 

[Walrus26]

....with a sneakily good shot.

 

[JianYang]

The reality is that too many plays die on Newhook's stick (or off of his stick when he loses the puck, misses the net entirely, etc.)

6 points in the last 7 games, I think, yet it still feels so much like he's just really fast, with nothing happening for it.

I think that impression comes from so many plays that Peter out. If he had the skills to go with the speed, he'd probably be a 100-point producer.

Extremely frustrating to watch.

I don't see things getting better with third line minutes.

In the bottom-6, it will just be frustrating a different way, because he doesn't play physical hockey to be a forechecking grinder and is too bad defensively to be part of a checking line.

What would be his role in the bottom-6?

He may have paced for 50-points over parts of a season, but he's still never had more than 34 points in a season at the NHL level, for whatever reason and is a strictly negative player since joining the Habs.

Projections are only good if you are continually improving (like with Suzuki), or if you have a track record to show you can get there.

Newhook just isn't good enough, IMO, to be part of our top-9 if we expect to become a contender. It's that that he's awful per se, but it would clearly be a question of satisfying ourselves with what is already on the team, rather than going forward to look for something better, whether that is to come from within the system, or outside the organization.

Standards for bottom-6 players should be as high as they are for top-6 players whom we seem to love to bash.

I think he generates enough chances. His issue is that he simply isn't clinical enough at at this level, and i don't know if you can find a remedy for that.

He reminds me a bit of oleg petrov. Not quite the same energy in newhook's play but somewhat comparable in that sense. Very comparable with petrov in terms of speed and finish (or lack thereof).