The Montreal Canadiens reassigned forward prospect Emil Heineman to the AHL’s Laval Rocket on Monday, per a team announcement.
Heineman, 21, arrived in the Canadiens organization last year in the second trade of his career. Initially a 2020 second-round selection of the Florida Panthers, Heineman’s signing rights were first transferred to the Calgary Flames in the Sam Bennett trade before he was again flipped to Montreal in the Tyler Toffoli deal.
Since being drafted in 2020, the 6’2″, 194 lb forward has played almost exclusively with Leksands IF in the SHL, aside from one game back in juniors in 2020-21. It’s the organization where he’s spent his entire career, all the way back to U16 hockey in 2015.
Signed to an entry-level contract for this season, Montreal opted to loan Heineman back to Leksands for another year of development in Sweden. He responded by scoring eight goals and 15 points in 35 games, roughly on track with the 16 points in 38 games he posted the season before.
Heineman shuffled up and down the Leksands lineup this season, seeing fourth-line ice time in some games and first-line ice time in others. He joins a Laval team that’s currently on the outside looking in of the Calder Cup playoff picture but sits only one point back of the Belleville Senators with a game in hand for the final playoff spot in the AHL’s North Division.