A move to center helped Penguins forward Danton Heinen return to the NHL

The John B. Sollenberger Trophy has been awarded since 1948 in recognition of the leading scorer of the American Hockey League (AHL).

And Danton Heinen’s chances of winning it are rotten.

To be fair, he has a clear handicap in that pursuit.

He’s in the NHL at the moment.

When the Pittsburgh Penguins recalled the veteran forward Nov. 4, he was tied for the AHL lead in scoring with 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in 10 games.

Danton extends his goal streak to 4 games! pic.twitter.com/x8ySGa5zJl

— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) October 25, 2025

“They’ve put me in a good spot down there,” Heinen said Nov. 5 in Cranberry. “Coaches were good, guys were good. A good group of guys, a good team down there. We had a little success.”

For Heinen, that success came under less than ideal circumstances.

Following a lackluster preseason, he was waived Oct. 2. When none of the NHL’s other 31 clubs made a claim for Heinen or — most importantly — his $2.25 million salary cap hit, he was assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton the next day.

Going through waivers is a 24-hour process that equates to a professional purgatory of sorts.

“It’s just a lot of waiting around,” Heinen said. “Not much you can do at that point. You just wait to see and go from there. It’s not the funnest thing.”

Once he reported to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, it marked the first time Heinen — a veteran of 10 NHL seasons — played in the AHL since he skated for the Providence Bruins during the 2017-18 season.

“Obviously, the news you don’t want to hear,” Heinen said. “You wanted to make this team. But there’s not much you can do. You’ve got to go down, work hard and work towards getting back here.

“You always try to learn from mistakes, learn from things. I don’t think you can look back with regrets. You’ve just got to keep looking forward.”

Heinen looked at center, to be specific.

Primarily deployed as a left or right winger throughout his professional career, he wound up skating predominantly at center during his productive deployment with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Of the 10 games he skated for that team, nine saw him open play as a center.

“It was fun,” Heinen said. “There’s a few things you’ve got to learn and a few things that weren’t natural. But I got a handful of games under my belt there now. Just trying to learn and get better.”

Placing the left-handed Heinen at center was more of a necessity as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton was light on bodies in the middle.

“When he got there, it was something that there was a need,” Penguins coach Dan Muse said. “In the (AHL), one of the nice things you have is you can try things like that and not be as worried about if this is going to work. It was great by (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton head coach Kirk MacDonald) and his staff of presenting that opportunity to him.

“With Danton, he did a really good job there in the middle. … While it might not be something that he’s done a ton of, he’s been in that position before. It just adds some more versatility for him and adds some more options for us.”

Since returning to the NHL roster, Heinen has opened play as a third-line center in one game and worked as a fourth-line left winger in two others.

The 30-year-old understands that offering something at all three forward positions will help his case for staying in the NHL.

“I just want to prove that I believe I’m an NHLer and I believe that I can help this team win,” Heinen said. “That’s what I’m coming up here to do and do everything I can to show it.”