Three years ago, Danton Heinen looked to be on the cusp of developing into an impact player in the NHL.
Heinen, a left winger, was coming off a 16-goal, 47-point season with Boston -- it ended well before his 23rd birthday -- and seemed ready to settle in for a long stay with the Bruins.
One year later, however, his goal output dropped to 11, and during the season that followed, the Bruins dispatched him to Anaheim for Nick Ritchie.
After an uneventful run with the Ducks -- 10 goals and 18 assists in 52 games, over one season and part of another -- Anaheim declined to extend him a qualifying offer. His now-expired deal had a salary-cap hit of $2.8 million.
That made Heinen an unrestricted free agent, which led to him accepting a one-year contract with a $1.1 million cap hit from the Penguins Thursday.
So, what are they getting in this guy?
Heinen is 6 foot 1, 188 pounds, which means he might make the Penguins a bit taller, although not necessarily bigger or tougher.
Precisely where Mike Sullivan will deploy him isn't clear, but Heinen's history suggests that he projects as a third-liner who can be counted on to produce about 15 goals.
It's conceivable that he could move into a top-six spot, at least temporarily, if there would be an opening.
Heinen joins the Penguins at a time when Ron Hextall has spoken repeatedly of his interest in adding size and muscle.
Coincidentally enough, it was Boston's desire to do just that that led to him being traded to the Ducks in 2020. Boston had to decide whether to part with Heinen or Anders Bjork and, because Heinen had a higher salary, opted to send him to the Ducks for Ritchie.
While he won't bring any particular toughness to the Penguins, Heinen is versatile enough to play all three forward positions, skates well and has good hands.
He does not, however, have a reputation for spending extended periods in the high-traffic areas near opponents' nets.
In the wake of trading Jared McCann and losing Brandon Tanev in the expansion draft earlier this month, Ron Hextall seemed to emphasize bolstering his bottom two lines during the first couple days of free agency.
In addition to Heinen, he has added Brock McGinn, late of Carolina, and re-signed Evan Rodrigues. Hextall also brought back Dominik Simon and signed Michael Chaput, although both got two-way contracts, which means they likely will start the season in Wilkes-Barre.
Hextall's offseason work hardly is complete, though.
In addition to his oft-stated goal of making the Penguins bigger, he has to find a replacement for Cody Ceci on the No. 2 defense pairing -- Hextall has not said whether he will try to fill that hole with an internal candidate or someone from the outside -- and, presumably, continue to explore opportunities to acquire a goaltender.
He has, however, said numerous times that he expects to enter the coming season with Tristan Jarry and Casey DeSmith as the Penguins' goaltending tandem.