Mike Sullivan's lineup tweaks showcasing versatility of Penguins' Danton Heinen

No Pittsburgh Penguins player has seen his nightly assignments fluctuate more than Danton Heinen.

Just three weeks into the season, and following Saturday’s loss to Seattle, he is the only forward on the team to have spent a game skating primarily on each of the four lines.

Heinen was the Penguins’ fourth-line right winger Saturday with rookie Sam Poulin and Drew O’Connor.

He began the season skating at left wing on Jeff Carter’s third line with Kasperi Kapanen.

Then, in late October, after Jake Guentzel was sidelined with a head injury, ultimately missing four games, coach Mike Sullivan opted to move Heinen up to Sidney Crosby’s first line.

Heinen quickly made the most of it, scoring two goals in the Penguins’ 6-3 comeback win Oct. 22 at Columbus, his first game playing in place of Guentzel.

Later during the team’s lengthy recent road trip, Heinen was inserted at left wing on the second line with Evgeni Malkin for a lone game Oct. 28 when Jason Zucker was unavailable because of an undisclosed injury.

In short, when injuries and adversity have prompted tweaks to the Penguins’ line, Sullivan often has tasked Heinen to float around and plug holes as needed.

“One of the greatest values in Danton’s game is his versatility,” Sullivan said. “Those guys aren’t easy to find. The ability to play up and down the lineup in different role s… it’s an advantage for a player in so many ways. That’s one of the things that attracted us to Danton. We can move him up and down the lineup. He can play both wings.”

Heinen, acquired by the Penguins in the summer of 2021, scored a career-high 18 goals in his first season with the team, adding 15 assists in 76 games played.

This year, he couldn’t have gotten off to a much hotter start, scoring three goals and notching three assists through the Penguins’ first five games.

But since his two-goal performance against the Blue Jackets, which was also the last time the Penguins won a game, Heinen’s production has dropped off completely, as he’s failed to register any points in seven straight games, the duration of his team’s losing streak.

As the Penguins continue to search for a way to emerge from their slump — the worst such skid by the franchise since 2005-06 — Sullivan did not appear concerned about Heinen not showing up on the stat sheets of late.

“I think Danton for the most part has played really well for us,” Sullivan said. “He’s had a really strong start to the season. I think, most recently, he hasn’t been put in the offensive situations that I think he was in the early part of the season. He’s a player that probably would produce more, given more opportunities.”

A lack of such opportunities can be illustrated at least partially by the shots on goal Heinen has managed recently. Aside from registering five in the Penguins’ 3-2 overtime loss to Boston last Tuesday, he’s had just three over his last five games.

But for Heinen has tried to embrace not receiving the choicest offensive chances every shift, regardless of who Sullivan pairs him with on a given night.

“I do take pride in it,” he said. “You want to be able to complement guys in certain ways any way you can. But it’s definitely something that can be valuable. You just try to do the best job you can if you are given those opportunities.

“Ideally, you want everybody healthy and you want lines sticking with each other, but it’s the nature of (the game) and you just want to be a guy that’s ready to be there all the time.”

Moving lines doesn’t prompt Heinen to switch his approach, but he does take into account the styles and tendencies of players with whom he skates.

Heinen had his work cut out for him Saturday as Sullivan made numerous in-game tweaks.

While listed with O’Connor and Poulin to begin the game, Heinen’s longest shift of the first period came alongside Rickard Rakell and Zucker.

Before the first intermission, Heinen also spent a shift playing with Ryan Poehling at center.

After Crosby opened up scoring with a slap shot about five minutes into the second period, Heinen was on the ice with Poulin and Zucker when Seattle’s Vince Dunn tied the score shortly thereafter.

As the second period came to an end, Sullivan moved Heinen yet again, this time back with Crosby and Guentzel.

Heinen took third-period shifts with Crosby and Guentzel, Malkin and Rakell and Poulin and O’Connor.

Playing on the Penguins’ second power-play unit has given him increased familiarity with the likes of Zucker and Rakell.

Regardless of the situation or with whom he’s skating, Heinen aims to have things go as fluidly as possible.

“You can’t change your game. You’ve got to stick to your game, and you’ve got to stay within yourself,” he said. “Different guys like pucks in different spots. (Malkin) sometimes, if you’re playing with him, he can beat a guy one-on-one. Give him the puck if there’s a man on him — he might want it.

“Some other guys might want it chipped in. It’s all situational. So, you try to stick to your game and what you do best and then listen to what your linemates want from you.”