‘Damn, that’s fun’: Emil Heineman excited about new opportunity with Islanders
This story originally appeared on hockeysverige.se and has been translated from Swedish to English.
Emil Heineman is no stranger to change.
On Friday, just prior to the 2025 NHL Draft, the 23-year-old forward was traded for the third time since being drafted into the NHL by the Florida Panthers back in 2020.
Having recently completed his rookie season with the Montréal Canadiens, Heineman was moved to the New York Islanders as part of the Noah Dobson deal. He found out about it while watching a soccer game back home in Sweden.
“I’d been skating with (Carolina prospect) Felix Unger Sörum, (Detroit prospect) Anton Johansson, and a few others,” Heineman said. “Then my agent called: ‘Just a heads-up, there are some rumors… I don’t know exactly.’
“I just thought, we’ll see what happens—since I’ve been through it before. We were about to head to a (soccer) game. During halftime, we checked Twitter to see what was going on. That’s when we saw all the accounts posting that it was official. I told my buddies, ‘Looks like I’m switching teams.’ Then Montreal’s GM (Kent Hughes) called and told me I’d been traded.”
His friends seemed more shocked by the news than he was himself.
“It was fun that my friends were there for it, and it turned into a fun moment for all of us. We were standing by the snack bar behind the home fans, so it was a bit of a weird situation—and a funny memory,” he said.
“My friends were like, ‘Man, things move fast in hockey.’ After I hung up, my phone basically exploded. I called my family, but then we went back to watching the second half.”
Despite having some success with the Canadiens last season, he’s by no means upset or disappointed about the trade.
“I just think it’s going to be super cool. My reaction was pure and simple: ‘Damn, that’s fun,’” he said.
“Definitely a bucket-list thing to live in New York. It’s something I may have dreamed of and hoped for, but never really expected.”
He’ll have plenty of Swedes around him to help get acclimated to his new team and surroundings. Marcus Högberg, Adam Boqvist, Simon Holmström, and Pierre Engvall all played for the Islanders last season.
“I haven’t had time to talk to any of them yet, but I plan to reach out to Simon and say hi. We played together at the World Juniors,” Heineman said. “I have to ask him how he managed to bring his dog over—stuff like that. Those things usually work out fine, but it is a different country. It was smooth in Canada, but I’ve heard it can be a bit more complicated going to the U.S.”
As part of the trade from Montreal, the Islanders also acquired two draft picks. One of them turned into Victor Eklund.
In 2021, Heineman was part of the much-talked-about Sam Bennett deal between Florida and the Calgary Flames. He never played for the Flames, as he was traded again a year later when the Flames acquired Tyler Toffoli from Montreal.
This time, though, the trade feels different in many ways.
“When I was traded from Florida to Calgary and then to Montreal, it was a bit strange,” Heineman said. “But it didn’t really feel like a big move since I’d never even been to Florida or Calgary. This time, it’s a real move for me and my girlfriend—it’s a big change.”
How big a change it will be on the ice remains to be seen. The Canadiens were a team on the rise last season, eventually making the playoffs for the first time in four years. The Islanders, on the other hand, have been trending in the opposite direction and missed the playoffs in 2025.
Heineman is unsure of what to expect.
“I want to play well, but I haven’t set any specific goals like I have to do this or that,” he said.
“I’m preparing myself physically and mentally this summer to give myself the best chance to perform. I want to show what I can do and play the best I can. Just be myself.”
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