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Dallas Stars Daily Links: Heiskanen Playing Beyond His Years

Posted on by Tyler Mair

By now, the fact that Miro Heiskanen is a rookie stud is no secret, at least not for people who watch the Dallas Stars play hockey. The young Finn is third on the team at 22:08 in time on ice, which also leads all NHL rookies in the category.

Perhaps the most impressive part about Heiskanen’s play is his stick handling. Or maybe it’s his hockey IQ. Or maybe just about everything:

“His stickwork is flawless … and his reads,” said Stars head coach Jim Montgomery. “It’s amazing to say a 19-year-old covers up other people’s mistakes, but he’s doing a lot of that out there. His hockey sense is off the charts.”

It’s become common place for people to watch the defenseman play and swear he’s not a rookie, but a long-tenured veteran in disguise. And perhaps that’s because Heiskanen possesses something that helps him stand above his peers — incredible raw talent.

“It’s a skill, and he has elite hockey skills,” said [General Manager Jim] Nill as he talked about several examples of Heiskanen’s knack for doing the right thing. “It’s who he is. A lot of these things you can’t teach.”

…

“I think it’s 99 percent instinct,” [Montgomery] said. “He looks at the film and I think he gets it right away. I don’t think he needs to see the end of the clip.”

You can read more in Mike Heika’s piece here.

Stars Stories

Hey, it’s a good thing we have a spare stud defenseman already eating up big min— okay sorry, I can’t stay positive. This is just terrible:

Here’s more shameless self-plugging (kind of):

Let’s combat this with some optimism, shall we? Here’s Devin Shore on yet another big night:

Tyler Seguin also found the back of the net (finally), though I’m surprised he didn’t thank Taylor in his interview…

And from an article standpoint, Sean Shapiro more or less predicted Denis Gurinaov’s usage last night when answering some mailbag questions: [The Athletic]

Central Census

The Stars weren’t the only Central team to take the ice last night, with two of their division rivals also playing:

  • Jeremy Colliton lost his head coaching debut as the Chicago Blackhawks fell 4-3 to the Carolina Hurricanes. [Second City Hockey]
  • The Minnesota Wild meanwhile stood pat at second in the Central by beating the Los Angeles Kings 3-1. [NHL]/

The Central remains a bloodbath, but at least the Stars seem to be standing above the carnage (for now):

So, uhh, this happened last night:

(The Vancouver Canucks ended up beating the Boston Bruins 8-5.)

In advance of the Hockey Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Monday, Sean McIdoe dropped some vintage Down Goes Brown:

In his latest power rankings, Greg Wyshnyski names the top rookie for each NHL team this season. You’ll never guess who he picked for the Stars: [ESPN]

This… is something:

Last time I’ll link about this, I promise. Katie Strang takes an in-depth look at the Ottawa Senators Uber scandal: [The Athletic]

Can you imagine if something like this happened today with someone like Sidney Crosby?

Talking Points