For the role he played, Montreal Canadiens forward Emil Heineman proved to be the perfect fit on the team in his rookie 2024-25 season. His next contract will probably end up one too.
Heineman Struggles Down the Stretch; So What?
Based on how Heineman finished the regular season, with a single assist in his last 25 games, it’s easy to forget the pending restricted free agent’s impact earlier in the season. Prior to that stretch, he had scored 10 goals and 17 points in 37 games, including four goals and nine points in December (14 games) to make a case to win earn rookie-of-the-month honours, with teammate Lane Hutson ultimately (and justifiably) coming out on top instead.
Ultimately, while points as a fourth-line forward are of course nice, they’re more so gravy. You’re primarily looking for players on whom you can rely. Seeing as head coach Martin St. Louis kept the fourth line of Heineman, Joel Armia and centre Jake Evans intact all season, as his third-most-used unit, Heineman by all accounts fits into that category. So, he’s someone the Canadiens will want to keep around, as he seeks a raise from his $897,500 hit.
There are of course caveats. Evans went cold-ish at around the same time. Despite admirably putting together his first 30-point season (13 goals, 23 assists), he scored most of his points before the calendar flipped to 2025. In his last 46 games, he scored three goals and 13 points. The Canadiens also gave him a relatively significant raise to a hit of $2.85 million for the next four seasons on March 4, perhaps prompting a level of buyer’s remorse on the part of the Habs. Is this a lesson learned they’ll apply in negotiations with Heineman?
It honestly shouldn’t be a factor, or at least not much of one. Circumstances are still different enough that Heineman should still come out (relatively) significantly ahead on his own. After all, it’s probably no coincidence Heineman’s time out of the lineup, after having been the struck by a car as a pedestrian in Utah in January, aligned with the team’s slump heading into the 4 Nations Face-Off.  In the time he missed with defenseman Kaiden Guhle getting injured soon thereafter, the Canadiens went 5-8-1. Again, it’s not that the Habs necessarily missed Heineman specifically, but they probably did miss having four lines on which they could rely. With Heineman out, they instead largely turned to Michael Pezzetta to replace him. With Pezzetta only getting 5:56 in average ice time this season, often benched early in the contest in that span, it effectively put the Habs down a man for entire games.
Pezzetta No Substitute for Heineman
With that, Pezzetta, a pending unrestricted free agent, is unlikely to get re-signed. However, Heineman, who played nearly double what Pezzetta got on average (11:24), including 1:01 on the power play, has proven himself to be someone St. Louis at least envisions as able to pitch in up and down the lineup, seeing as he helped complement Alex Newhook and Patrik Laine on a scoring line on occasion down the stretch. So, to be completely clear, it’s not a question of if Heineman will be qualified, but what the nature of his next contract will be.
Of course, with the late-season debut of Ivan Demidov, the Canadiens armed themselves with a new high-powered offensive weapon, one who will likely cut into Heineman’s time on the man advantage moving forward. Nevertheless, it should be nice to know the 23-year-old Heineman, whose skill set seems to lend itself to a role anywhere in the lineup, is available if necessary, in the event of injury. With Armia also unlikely to re-sign as a pending UFA himself, obviously that fourth line will be subject to tweaks, but a duo of Evans and Heineman is a decent starting point. Plus, as Evans’ new deal was actually his fourth, Habs fans should probably take a look at his second for a better hypothetical comparable.
With a higher guaranteed salary should he have gotten demoted, Evans took a cut to his NHL pay (from $925,000 to $700,000) to start 2020-21. It’s worth noting Evans didn’t have as much of a positive impact as Heineman did in his first season with the Canadiens (as opposed to the Laval Rocket), which bodes well for the Habs moving forward, but also Heineman as far as negotiations should go. It’s realistic he gets a one-way deal, which general manager Kent Hughes has agreed to in the past for players exiting their entry-level deals. It’s possible he also ends up closer to if not over $1 million relative to his current $925,000 salary. Based on the Habs’ current salary-cap situation, he should slip comfortably under the ceiling, while continuing to slip in seamlessly on the fourth line (if not higher).
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