Danton-Heinen

The Canucks had just wrapped up a game in Dallas against the Stars on Friday night when their trade with Pittsburgh was completed (full details here).

Penguins President of Hockey Operations and GM Kyle Dubas praised the job that Director of Team Operations Jason Seidling did to ensure that two of the organization’s newest members — forward Danton Heinen and defenseman Vincent Desharnais — arrived in time for tonight’s 3-0 win over Nashville. They had a quick turnaround, with the players on the move at 5:45 AM.

“It's kind of better that way to get in and you don't have much time to think about it. You just get in and get your feet wet. It's good to be back,” said Heinen, now in his second stint with the Penguins.

Head Coach Mike Sullivan has always been a believer in not paralyzing guys with information, saying they want them to play with a free spirit and have the ability to trust their instincts. But the coaching staff did provide a simple explanation of the team’s foundation.

Heinen, who played for Pittsburgh from 2021-23, spent time with assistant coach Mike Vellucci – who works with the forwards – to get reacquainted.

“You know the guys, you know the area, you know everything. Definitely makes it a lot easier for me. But the coaches pulled me aside, showed me a few clips on the system as a refresher kind of thing—nothing all that new, but good to get a refresher,” Heinen said. “Might take a little bit to adjust back, but tonight was more adrenaline and not so much thinking. I don't know — hopefully I was in the right spots, but I think it went okay."

Sullivan affirmed that postgame, after talking pregame about how Heinen – who scored a career-high 18 goals with Pittsburgh during the 2021-22 season – had a few good looks playing right wing on a line with Michael Bunting and Cody Glass.

“He's got a great shot. He had a couple of great looks tonight. He almost scored,” Sullivan said.

Meanwhile, Desharnais – nicknamed ‘Vinnie’ – met with assistant coach David Quinn, who works with the defense.

"He's very detailed. Right away, he showed me a lot of clips, and I... (laughs)... kind of took a deep breath because I was like, 'Okay, there's a lot going on right now,’” Desharnais said. “But, so far, he's been great. Just a lot of details in his coaching, but he lets you play as well. He understands that mistakes are going to happen, and I'm excited to work with him for the rest of the season.”

Desharnais speaks with the media.

Desharnais, who’s listed at 6-7 and 226 pounds, was deployed alongside Ryan Graves, who’s listed at 6-5 and 222 pounds, making for a sizable third pairing. Desharnais spoke highly of how Graves helped him throughout the night.

“Playing with Gravy was awesome. He made it easy for me right away. He was talking a lot, and I kind of told him, ‘Hey, just bark at me, anything. Just bark at me. I just need someone to talk to me,’” Desharnais said. “The nerves were there, you want to make a good first impression, and I think as the game went on, we were pretty solid.”

Desharnais got involved physically right away, throwing the body around, ultimately recording two hits and four blocks. Sullivan said that the defenseman will bring “some size and some snarl” to their defense corps, with Desharnais playing significant minutes for Edmonton last year en route to the Stanley Cup Final.

“I want other players to just be annoyed by me,” Desharnais said of his style. “It's nothing pretty. I can be physical, hard around my net, and try to bring some offense by putting pucks on net and just keeping pucks alive, having a good stick. PK, the last five minutes, keeping leads—it's like I said, it's nothing pretty, but I just try to be efficient and consistent.”

Alex Nedeljkovic, who made 25 saves to earn his first shutout of the season, was impressed with what he saw from his new teammates.

“We’re really excited about having Vinnie and Heino here and seeing what they can bring to the team,” Nedeljkovic said. “It was obviously a great start tonight. I thought they were both solid in the roles they were asked to do, especially coming off a game last night and a travel day today.”