Dallas Stars Prospect Update: Miro Heiskanen performing at a rare pace

My normal goal for this weekly prospect column is to start off by profiling a different Dallas Stars player every week, but even though I started off by talking about Miro Heiskanen last time around, I’m going to break my own rule and do it again here.

The reason? Heiskanen’s production so far this season is currently on pace to enter some very rare territory for a player of his age in the league he is playing in.

The 18-year-old Finnish defenseman recorded three points over three games played this past week, bringing his season total to eight points in eight games.

And as the following two tweets help illustrate, that’s pretty darn uncommon:

As the first tweet states, it’s still early in the season and things can always change. That being said, however, Heiskanen is still averaging the most ice time of any player on his team, at 23:27 per game, so it’s very likely that he could keep racking up the points.

There was a lot of heavy outside speculation before the 2017 about who the Stars were going to select at 3rd overall. Considering they had Heiskanen at the top of their entire draft board, ahead of both Nico Hischier and Nolan Patrick, they must be pretty thrilled these days about their choice.

Here’s a clip of his most recent goal, showing off some quick skating and hands:

North American Juniors

NCAA

Another Dallas Stars 1st round draft pick, Riley Tufte (25th overall in 2016), is off to a great start in his 2017-18 season.

He picked up two goals over two weekend games, giving him five goals in eight games so far. He’s currently tied for the scoring lead on his team.

Colton Point had another strong weekend for Colgate, recording a 20-save shutout in one of his two games and stopping 21 of 22 shots in the other. His opponents, the Arizona State Dun Devils, weren’t a particularly offensive team, but nevertheless, Point bumps his stats on the season to a 1.28 G.A.A. and a .955 save percentage.

University of Michigan defenseman Joe Cecconi picked up two assists in two games, bringing his point total to four in six games. Known primarily as a defensive-defenseman, Cecconi has been getting power play time for his club this season, which is a good sign that he’s rounding out his game.

OHL

Jason Robertson had one goal in two games, but it was a beautiful self effort in overtime that helped cap off a win for the Kingston Frontenacs:

Nick Caamano had one goal and one assist over three games, but it was a tough weekend for his Flint Firebirds team, who lost all three games.

Center Liam Hawel had himself a nice weekend, picking up three assists in three games. The 6’5” center displayed some soft hands in his game on Friday, as can be seen in highlights here.

WHL

Brett Davis had a two-goal night for the Kootenay Ice on Tuesday in a 6-3 loss against the Regina Pats. Highlights of his goals can be found here.

Defenseman Ondrej Vala had a goal and a game-high eight shots on Friday against the Everett Silvertips. He was firing his cannon all night long, and as the video of his goal (here at the 02:52 mark) shows, that can be quite a shot for a goalie to handle.

AHL

The Texas Stars won both of their games over the weekend, bringing their season record up to 5-3-1.

Dillon Heatherington scored twice and had an assist in those games, while Roope Hintz and Jason Dickinson each scored one themselves. Highlights of both games can be found on the AHL Live website.

Europe

Sweden

Fredrik Karlstrom scored his first goal and assist of the season last week in the same game, a 6-0 win for Linkoping. He had 11:45 of ice time.

2018 NHL Draft Watch

Oshawa Generals center Allan McShane is one of the best pass-first centers heading into the 2018 draft, and his skill was on display again recently, picking up five assists in his last two games. He leads Oshawa is scoring with 18 points (two goals and 16 assists) in 15 games, which is pretty impressive for a 17-year-old.

One of his helpers got some extra love from the OHL’s Twitter account:

Dallas Stars Prospect Stats 2017-18