Dallas Stars defender Miro Heiskanen did not get enough votes to be a finalist for the Calder Trophy as the league’s rookie of the year (he was in the top-three on my ballot, if you are interested) but he should not lose too much sleep over that right now.
Not only is his team still playing in Round 2 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but he played a huge role in a 4-2 win over the St. Louis Blues on Saturday afternoon, scoring a goal and adding an assist, to tie the series at one game each.
He also received some high praise from Ben Bishop, his team’s starting goalie, after the game.
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Really high praise.
Really, really, REALLY high praise.
Bishop was asked what has impressed him the most about the Stars’ 19-year-old rookie this season and, well, he set some pretty high goals for him.
“I mean the guy’s going to be a Hall of Famer, no doubt,” said Bishop, via Fox Sports Southwest. “It’s unbelievable. He’s one of the best defensemen I’ve ever played with and he’s 19. The sky is the limit for that guy. He is unbelievable. Everything he does on and off the ice. He’s a true pro. He’s always getting better and it’s scary to think he is only 19.”
Keep in mind that during Bishop’s NHL career he has made stops in Ottawa, Tampa Bay, and Los Angeles, meaning that he has been teammates and played with the likes of Erik Karlsson, Victor Hedman, and Drew Doughty, three of the best defenders of this era. So when he says “one of the best defensemen I’ve ever played with” that is not something to just take lightly. He has played behind some great ones.
How Heiskanen’s career plays out from here obviously remains to be seen, but there is no denying that his rookie season has been about as impressive as a rookie season can be for an NHL defender. He has not only played in every game this season (all 82 regular seasons, all eight playoff games so far) but he averaged more than 23 minutes of ice-time per game, saw equal time on the penalty kill and power play, and played more than 20 minutes of even-strength ice-time per game. He has been a top-pairing defender all season and never really looked out of place. Even though this was his first taste of NHL action, and even though he is still a teenager, he still finished as a positive possession player and was outstanding when it came to scoring chance and high-danger scoring chance differentials.
When he was on the ice during 5-on-5 play the Stars controlled more than 53 percent of the total scoring chances and more than 54 percent of the high-danger scoring chancers (via Natural Stat Trick).
He also finished with 12 goals and 33 total points and was top-20 among all defenders in the NHL in 5-on-5 shots and total shot attempts.
In short, he did pretty much everything for the Stars this season.
With Heiskanen and John Klingberg the Stars’ blue line looks to be in good hands for the foreseeable future.
Related
- Pettersson, Binnington, Dahlin are finalists for Calder Trophy
- Crazy first period sequences lifts Stars to Game 2 win over Blues
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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.