Pittsburgh Penguins sign Danton Heinen to one-year contract
Danton Heinen has returned to the Pittsburgh Penguins on a one-year, $1 million contract, the club announced Wednesday.
The 27-year-old forward will rejoin the team that did not tender him a qualifying offer as a pending restricted free agent earlier this month.
Heinen scored 18 goals and 33 points in 76 games with the Penguins during the 2021–22 regular season. The 6’1″, 188-pound forward added three goals in seven games as the Penguins fell to the New York Rangers in the first round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Penguins have agreed to terms with forward Danton Heinen on a one-year contract.
The one-way deal will run through the 2022.23 campaign and carries an average annual value of $1 million. https://t.co/MBVi6ousgL
The Boston Bruins originally selected Heinen in the fourth round (No. 116 overall) of the 2014 NHL Draft. The Langley, British Columbia product debuted with the Bruins in 2016–17 and scored 47 points in 77 games with the team the following year.
After spending the first four seasons of his National Hockey League career with the Bruins, Heinen was traded to the Anaheim Ducks in a one-for-one deal for Nick Ritchie at the 2020 trade deadline. Heinen scored 10 goals and 18 points in 52 games over parts of two seasons in Anaheim.
The Ducks elected not to qualify Heinen as an RFA after the 2020–21 season, making him an unrestricted free agent. Heinen elected to sign a one-year, $1.1 million deal to join the Penguins on the open market; one year later, even after setting a new high watermark with 18 goals, Heinen has settled for another one-year deal worth less money.
In 348 career regular-season games with the Bruins, Ducks, and Penguins, Heinen has scored 62 goals and 154 points. He’s added six goals and 12 points in 40 career playoff contests.
With Heinen back in the fold, the Penguins now have 16 forwards with significant NHL experience signed for the 2022–23 season: Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jake Guentzel, Jason Zucker, Bryan Rust, Rickard Rakell, Kasperi Kapanen, Jeff Carter, Brock McGinn, Teddy Blueger, Heinen, Josh Archibald, Ryan Poehling, Drew O’Connor, Drake Caggiula, and Alex Nylander.