Martin St-Louis doesn’t use Emil Heineman enough

Dose
Crédit: MONTREAL, QC - OCTOBER 09: Look on Montreal Canadiens left wing Emil Heineman (51) during warm-up before the Toronto Maple Leafs versus the Montreal Canadiens game on October 09, 2024, at Bell Centre in Montreal, QC (Photo by David Kirouac/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Watching the Canadiens’ games lately, something struck me.

Emil Heineman is really effective on the ice.

He’s able to put his skills to good use, and even though he plays a supporting role in the Habs line-up, he’s important.

When a guy hits, uses his body to create things in forecheck and is able to put pressure on because of his skating, he becomes useful to an NHL team.

Emil Heineman does all that… And what’s more, he can find the back of the net because he has a quality shot.

At the time of writing, the 23-year-old ranks 4th for most goals (6) scored by a rookie so far this season.

Heineman is on a 19-goal pace this season, which is far from bad:

(Credit: NHL.com screenshot)

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Clearly, we can see why he was selected in the 2nd round by the Panthers in the 2020 draft.

We knew he had interesting potential when we saw him score seven goals in eleven games upon his arrival in Laval, but we’re still talking about a nice surprise this season with the Canadiens.

That said, Heineman deserves – in my opinion – a chance in the team’s top-6 if certain players (like Newhook) continue to disappoint.

Heineman was Martin St-Louis’ least-used player yesterday against the Capitals, as he was against the Islanders and Preds earlier this week :

(Credit: ESPN screenshot)

Will Emil Heineman save the Canadiens’ season with a top-6 finish?

No one has said so.

On the other hand, if the Canadiens go for it on merit… Heineman should play even more. He’s got some interesting assets for a player of his size (especially his shot) and even though he doesn’t have much experience, we’ve seen that he can help the club.

The Canadiens need to take advantage of his shooting ability:

In closing…

Among rookies, Lane Hutson is currently the 2nd leading scorer (17 assists).

Matvei Michkov (22 points) is alone on his island at the top of the list…

Overtime

– Well…

– Things are going well for the Lions.

– The defender celebrates his 35th birthday.

– Where’s Soto going to sign?