Boston Bruins: Bruce Cassidy sends message to Danton Heinen

The Boston Bruins injuries start to pile up, so each healthy player for the Bruins is a welcomed one. However, head coach Bruce Cassidy still sends a message to Danton Heinen with a healthy scratch.

The Boston Bruins will conclude the 2019 calendar year on the road in a matinee action facing the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center. The Bruins will have to brave themselves, missing up to the four regulars in David Krejci, Charlie McAvoy, Torey Krug, and Connor Clifton.

Nevertheless, Bruce Cassidy handles the youth management carefully and visibly doesn’t care about the injuries piling up. Against the Devils, Danton Heinen is projected to become a healthy scratch for the first time this season.

Last year, such a move paid dividends for the Bruins. Early in February, Cassidy decided to scratch Heinen for two games against the Washington Capitals and the New York Islanders. The B’s won both of those games.

When Heinen made his return against the New York Rangers, he scored a goal. In his next 11 games after the press box appearance, Heinen collected 11 points.

This time around, it’s something rather comparable. Heinen is pointless in his last five games, and 11 of his last 12 games. In this stretch of games, the 24-year-old has gathered only two points. Usually, his scoring isn’t the biggest matter because of his excellent two-way display.

Over his career, Danton Heinen has a CF% of 52.7. This season in 40 games, Heinen has CF% of 46.8, which is not the best outcome for the player who just signed a two-year contract worth $2.8 million per season in the most recent offseason.

In his last contest on Sunday versus the Buffalo Sabres, Heinen ended up errant on the Sabres’ second goal. His CF% was at 41.67 and his xGF% at 15.98 at even strength in the game, which ranked as the second-worst, only behind John Moore.

Bruce Cassidy has had enough of the second line of Jake Debrusk, David Krejci, and Heinen, seemingly. Cassidy has benched DeBrusk for a few times, as those three combined only one Corsi For attempt during 4:43 of the ice-time at five-on-five. Their xGF% was exactly zero, you could not expect a goal scored by that line.

Cassidy probably wants to issue a message to Heinen with a healthy scratch. He didn’t want to “punish” DeBrusk this way, as DeBrusk netted two power-play tallies in the third period versus Buffalo.

With Heinen scratched and Krejci injured, the Bruins second line will now feature Par Lindholm centering DeBrusk and David Backes.