The Penguins got the perfect part yesterday to boost their last six, with the return to Danton Heinen’s Pittsburgh. Despite having a very good season in which he scored 18 goals, the open market was not very welcoming to Heinen, resulting in a one-year, $1.0 million contract.
The NHL’s salary cap has barely increased in the last three years, but teams haven’t stopped handing out long contracts to other players. As a result, there’s not a lot of extra room for players of Heinen’s (or Evan Rodrigues’) level to make a decent payday as a free agent. It’s very difficult for teams to move contracts or clear slots, especially when so many have the same goal in mind.
As a result of these market forces, Heinen is back in Pittsburgh for another year. And despite his legitimately strong season last year, he actually had to take a pay cut from what he made last season to do it.
That’s unfortunate and seems unfair from a player’s perspective, but it will be a win for the Penguins to have a useful piece for next year. Despite not really having the reputation of being a good defensive player, Heinen helped generate excellent defensive results for the Pens when he was on the ice last season along with notable goal scoring.
Danton Heinen, signed 1x $1M by PIT, is a useful utility winger who had a very good season for the Pens last year. He says something about the free agent market that he had to take a pay cut after an 18-goal season. #gopens pic.twitter.com/h7D4Vm12b8
— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) July 27, 2022
That’s a big deal, as many of Pittsburgh’s other bottom six forwards, namely Jeff Carter and Kasperi Kapanen, didn’t fare well in that regard last year. Adding Heinen to a possible third line with them makes the Pens much more complete. He also pushes Brock McGinn into the fourth row with Teddy Blueger and Ryan Poehling or Josh Archibald in a deeper and better look for the club now.
Unless your name is Drew O’Connor or Radim Zohorna, there’s a lot to like about the Pens rehiring Heinen on the cheap.
Speaking of Kapanen, after seeing this market, the Pens’ handling of his situation looks as flawed as ever.
It’s clear the team didn’t want to lose Kapanen, so they made him a qualifying offer to ensure they had him under contract next season. But that guarantee came at a great price, giving Kapanen the edge to opt for arbitration.
Unlike the unrestricted free agent market these days, the nature of salary arbitration makes it the final frontier for younger mid-level NHL players to artificially increase their paydays to levels above contribution. Kapanen (11 goals, 32 points last season) got the Pens to avoid arbitration and agree to a contract that would pay him $3.2 million over two years. In Toronto, Pierre Engvall (15 goals, 35 points last year) landed a $2.25 million, one-year deal. In Edmonton, he earns $3.0 a year for Jesse Puljujarvi to avoid an arbitration hearing (16G, 35-point season).
Compare those situations to Heinen (unqualified, $1.0 million for a year after an 18-goal, 33-point season) or Ryan Donato (unqualified, had to return to Seattle for a $1.2 million contract, a year after a year of 16G, 31 points) and the results are clear. Others like Sonny Milano, Daniel Sprong and Sam Steel were in the NHL last season, didn’t qualify and are still free agents two weeks later.
As the last two weeks have illustrated very clearly, giving a qualified offer creates costly business for teams. Not qualifying is costly for players.
Pens bosses might agree with how it all worked out, as that IS what it took to ensure they kept Kapanen. But it’s also fair to say that decision also allocated millions of additional dollars by playing it the way they played it.
Given the inconsistent and up-and-down nature of Kapanen’s career, it remains to be seen whether holding him in such high regard and being willing to pay such a high price would actually have been a necessary move or a good idea. Especially when there are players like Heinen, Donato, Milano and old Evan Rodrigues who have no choice but to work for much cheaper.
In the end, the Penguins are better off for bringing Heinen back. It is unfortunate for him that the market has not been very receptive to his good season. But that should be Pittsburgh’s gain for the second straight year in having Heinen on a very team-friendly deal.