Did the Canadiens Underestimate Emil Heineman?
When the Canadiens traded for Noah Dobson, most fans were focused on the biggest piece of the deal. That was Dobson, and that made sense. Top-pairing defencemen don't become available very often, and when they do, the price is usually high. Montreal paid that price because it believes Dobson can help lead the next stage of the rebuild. Emil Heineman went the other way.
Heineman got a chance to shine with the Islanders. He made the most of it.
But now that Heineman has enjoyed a breakout season with the New York Islanders, it's worth asking a different question. Did the Canadiens give up more than they realized?
Heineman was never the flashy player in Montreal. He wasn't on the first power-play unit, and he wasn't putting up huge offensive numbers. What he did bring was energy every single night. He hit people and chased down pucks. He did have one of the better shots among the Canadiens' depth forwards, and he always seemed capable of creating something out of a limited role.
Sometimes players like Heineman get overlooked because they aren't filling the scoresheet every night. Then they get a bigger opportunity somewhere else.
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That's exactly what happened to Heineman with the Islanders.
Instead of playing around 11 minutes a night, Heineman was trusted with a much bigger role. The extra ice time paid off, as he responded with 22 goals while showing that there might have been more offence in his game than many people expected.
Does that mean the Canadiens made a mistake? Not necessarily. Every trade involves giving something up, and Montreal wasn't going to acquire a player like Dobson without sacrificing good assets. If Dobson becomes the cornerstone defenceman the Canadiens believe he can be, very few people will complain about the deal.
Sometimes teams need to find stars in other organizations.
But it’s a reminder that teams don't just develop stars. Sometimes they also develop very good complementary players. Those players can become valuable elsewhere if another team gives them a bigger opportunity. Heineman may end up being one of those players.
The Canadiens probably still make the Dobson trade every time. That doesn't mean they won't look back once in a while and wonder what Heineman might have become had he stayed in Montreal. Sometimes a player isn't a throw-in.
Sometimes he's simply the piece that needed a different opportunity to show everyone what he could really do. Maybe that's what happened with Heineman. The Canadiens probably didn't lose the trade. But they might have lost a better player than they thought they were giving up.