Danton Heinen’s next move is still up in the air, and Columbus is giving him the space to sort it out.
According to Aaron Portzline of The Athletic, the Blue Jackets forward did not “immediately” report to AHL Cleveland after clearing waivers last week. Heinen is reportedly weighing his options, while the organization is allowing him the time he needs to decide what comes next in his career.
For a player who once burst onto the scene with a 47-point rookie season in Boston, the situation says plenty about where his game sits now. The 31-year-old has settled into more of a depth role, a far cry from the two-way third-line winger he used to be.
Even so, there’s a clear reason he’d want to think carefully about his future. Since the 2016-17 season, the 2014 fourth-round pick has appeared in just 17 AHL games as a prospect.
And when he got a 12-game look with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton last season, he made it count, piling up 17 points. Heinen then signed a two-way deal to remain in Ohio this season, made the NHL roster, and went scoreless in 10 games while averaging 10:10 per night, the lowest usage of his 11-year career.
Columbus is also being mindful of the bigger picture. The Monsters are 26th in the AHL and already carrying a veteran-heavy group that includes Steven Lorentz, who has seven goals in nine games, plus Carson Soucy, who just joined the team.
However this shakes out, the Blue Jackets are making sure they handle the British Columbia native with respect. Heinen has played 622 NHL games.
Around the league, Vegas has another blue-line problem to manage. Noah Hanifin is week-to-week after the injury he suffered Sunday against the Sabres, according to SinBin.vegas.
The defenseman absorbed a hard hit from Buffalo’s Tyson Kozak, with the play captured in a clip shared by Danny Webster of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The Golden Knights have already been juggling injuries on defense, with Parker Wotherspoon sidelined and Ville Heinola moving between the AHL and the NHL.
Dylan Coghlan has also been pushed into a bigger role, already appearing in 11 games for Vegas this season, which is more NHL action than he had over the previous three years combined. Even with the injuries piling up, Vegas keeps rolling.
The Golden Knights are sixth in the league and have allowed the seventh-fewest goals in the NHL. They’re back in action tomorrow against Utah, and it sounds likely Heinola will be summoned again while Hanifin targets a late-November return.
San Jose’s Mason Marchment was also hit with discipline, receiving a $5,000 fine for roughing, the maximum allowed, from the NHL’s Department of Player Safety. The incident came last night after Marchment fought New York’s Victor Eklund.
The retaliation followed a questionable hit into the boards by the Islander on Kiefer Sherwood, but the league ruled Marchment went too far. Marchment had previously been fined for interference in 2024, though his record is otherwise fairly clean for a player who averages 70 penalty minutes over an 82-game season.
He has four goals in 20 games this year, and the Sharks picked up a shootout win last night as they try to dig out of an uneven start.
Florida, meanwhile, got a more encouraging sight at morning skate. Aleksander Barkov and Brad Marchand were both on the ice with the Panthers in Columbus, a sign that their returns are getting closer.
Head coach Paul Maurice said they are “within two weeks” of being back. The Panthers are hanging onto a Wild Card spot early, a better place than last season’s injury-riddled disappointment, but they could still use help.
They’re 5-5-0 in their last 10 and sitting in the middle of the pack in the NHL. If Maurice’s timeline holds, Barkov and Marchand could be available for the end of Florida’s three-game home stand from November 17-25, which includes matchups with Edmonton, Buffalo and Ottawa.
In Other News...
Sam Bennett Delivered In A Panthers Win They Really Needed
Sam Bennett gave Florida exactly the kind of night it needed in Columbus, scoring twice to help the Panthers beat the Blue Jackets 4-1 at Nationwide Arena. Anton Lundell and Aaron Ekblad each picked up assists, and the win nudged Florida to 10-7-2, a timely response for a team looking to steady itself in the early part of the season.
Jacob Markstrom backed it up with a sharp performance in net, turning aside 37 shots and keeping Columbus from ever fully settling in. For the Panthers, it was the sort of road result that can matter beyond the standings, especially when a veteran forward like Bennett is the one driving the offense and the team is trying to build something more consistent. [Read more 🡒]
Panthers Get A Familiar Opponent In A Road Test They Need
The Panthers head into a road matchup with Columbus carrying a familiar comfort level against a Blue Jackets team they have handled well for years. Since the 2019-20 season, Florida has consistently found ways to get results in this matchup, and the timing matters now with the club trying to steady its recent play while navigating the usual wear and tear of an NHL schedule.
Columbus enters with some lineup uncertainty after Sean Monahan and Dmitri Voronkov both left the last game with injuries and are considered day-to-day, adding another layer to a game that already has some roster-watch intrigue on both sides. Paul Maurice and Rick Bowness have both been talking recently about where their teams are at and what they need from their group, so this one carries a little more weight than a routine regular-season meeting. [Read more 🡒]
Panthers Are Closing In On A Massive Two-Player Boost
The Panthers are getting closer to a significant lift up front, with head coach Paul Maurice saying Aleksander Barkov and Brad Marchand are both expected to be back within the next two weeks. For a team that has had to navigate early-season absences from two of its most important forwards, that kind of timeline matters well beyond the standings, because it points to Florida finally getting back some of the lineup structure and experience it has been missing.
Barkovs knee injury arrived early in the season, and he was able to avoid surgery after originally being projected for a six- to eight-week recovery. Marchands situation has been different but just as frustrating, with a lower-body injury surfacing after his off-season surgery and forcing another stretch on the sideline. The Panthers still have to wait for the final return date, but the fact that both veterans are now nearing the finish line gives Florida a chance to reset its forward group sooner rather than later. [Read more 🡒]