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Dallas Stars Daily Links: The Rise of Heiskanen

Posted on by Tyler Mair

Typically when a skater still on their ELC is considered to be your best player, it’s because you’re not a very good team. Rarely can you make that claim when you’re a reigning Conference Champion, but that’s how it is with the Dallas Stars and Miro Heiskanen.

Already a bona fide No. 1 defenseman, Heiskanen has exceeded every expectation the Stars have had for him. And what’s even crazier is that there’s always room for improvement:

“Miro’s just going to keep getting better with experience,” coach Rick Bowness said. “We’ve talked about that before. He’s such an intelligent player, he reads the play so well. The more experience he gains, he’s just going to continue to make himself a top defenseman in this league for a long, long time.”

Thanks to his performance in last year’s NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs, Heiskanen will be on the PHWA’s radar for a potential Norris Trophy, given annually to the league’s best defenseman. But the ever humble superstar doesn’t like to dwell on such possibilities:

“I don’t really think that way,” Heiskanen said. “Like I say many times, I just do my thing and don’t think about too much what the other people are all talking about. I just do my thing, try to help my team every night and that’s it. I don’t really think about it too much that way.”

You can read more from Matthew DeFranks here.

Stars Stories

With Seguin out, Dallas will be out an alternate captain. Who are the top candidates to assume that role?

At home this season, the Stars will be wearing their Victory Green jerseys 15 times, their new Blackout Alternates 10 times, and their white Reverse Retros three times:

Around the League

Personally, the hardest thing getting used to this season is the sheer volume of games every night. That being said, it was a rather quiet Monday for the Central:

  • A bit close for comfort, but the Columbus Blue Jackets squeezed out a 3-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings. [The Cannon]
  • Meanwhile the Carolina Hurricanes took care of business against the Winnipeg Jets, winning 4-2. [Canes Country]/

Is it too early for Power Rankings? Nonsense, says Down Goes Brown:

Here are some other takeaways from the very young 2020-21 season:

The Pierre Luc-Dubois situation in Columbus is starting to get ugly…

Finally…

Here is a deep dive into what the Hockey Diversity Alliance has been doing to help combat racism in hockey:

Talking Points