The Boston chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association (PHWA) has nominated winger Danton Heinen for the Boston Bruins 2024 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy.
The Masterton Trophy is awarded to the player who demonstrates tenacity, sportsmanship, and passion to hockey.
Danton Heinen spent nearly the whole offseason before signing an amateur trial with the Boston Bruins on September 5. Heinen had an excellent training camp and preseason, but due to salary cap constraints entering the 2023-24 regular season, the Bruins were unable to officially sign him until Oct. 30, eight games into the season. Since then, Heinen has developed into a valuable, versatile two-way forward for his former University of Denver coach and current Boston Bruins coach, Jim Montgomery.
“I think it’s deserved,” Montgomery said about the Masterton nomination after practice on Friday. “He had to fight a lot. When you go through the entire summer not knowing if you’ll have a contract or if you’ll be able to play again in the NHL, it’s a lot of uncertainty to cope with mentally. The mental fortitude he needed to come in here, have a great camp, and stay here because of his desire to be a Boston Bruin again, as well as the opportunity to excel in any capacity. He began on the fourth line then, I believe, moved to the third line. We introduced him to the penalty kill. He did not commit a penalty kill during his previous visit here. “He has done everything we could ask of him.”
One could argue that Heinen has gone above and beyond what the Bruins have asked of him, as he currently plays as the two-way, top forward on the Bruins’ high-octane second line alongside Pavel Zacha and David Pastrnak. Heinen scored and assisted in Thursday night’s 4-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes, giving him 16 goals and 18 assists in 69 games this season.
Heinen was selected by the Boston Bruins in the fourth round (116th overall) at the 2014 NHL Entry Draft. The 6-foot-1, 188-pound winger appeared in eight games for the Bruins after being called up late in the 2016-17 season. From there, he played 212 games for the Bruins in just under three seasons before being moved to the Anaheim Ducks for winger Nick Ritchie at the 2020 NHL Trade Deadline.
Heinen’s greatest season with the Bruins was his rookie year of 2017-18, when he scored 16 goals and 31 assists in 77 games. Heinen went on to score 11 goals and 23 assists the following season, and then seven goals and 15 assists in 58 games in the 2019-20 season before being dealt to the Ducks.
Danton Heinen recorded three goals and one assist in his first nine games with the Ducks following the deal. He subsequently had seven goals and seven assists in 43 games during the Ducks’ 56-game truncated 2021 season, his final with the team before signing with the Pittsburgh Penguins during the offseason. Heinen scored 18 goals and 15 assists in 76 games for the Penguins in 2021-22, followed by eight goals and 14 assists in 65 games last season.
Heinen has 86 goals and 124 assists for 210 points in 482 NHL games.
