At the beginning of the third period in the game against the Colorado Avalanche, Miro Heiskanen collided with Scott Wedgewood in an attempt to make a defensive play. Watching the play in real time, both players got up and seemed to be okay. Then, the shot heard around Stars' fandom was uttered from the lips of Razor. "I think Miro Heiskanen has left the Stars' bench..."
It would be COMPLETELY understandable if you died a little when those words were delivered. Miro Heiskanen IS the Stars' defense. I'm surprised he hasn't broken his back carrying this team's defense. With Miro in the lineup, the defense for the Stars is respectable. With him out, this defense looks pedestrian.
With that being said, I don't think it's out-of-turn to say Miro will be out for a little while; day-to-day, week-to-week? Who knows, but the sooner he comes back, the better. With his absence on the blue line, I tweeted from the Starcastic Remarks X account that I would be very interested to know which Stars' defensemen would lead the Stars in time-on-ice in the 3rd period. I was right on my guess as to who it was.
If the Stars are going to have any chance of keeping the amount of goals allowed down, I think Esa the Goal Supressa is going to have to step up in Miro's absence. Pete DeBoer appears to agree with me. Lindell, the 29 year old Finnish defensemen, had his time-on-ice eclipse 26 minutes for the first time in a very long time. He played over 10 minutes in the third period. Over a full 60 minute game, he would've been on pace for over 30 minutes of ice time. I know the Stars were down a defenseman for almost all of the 3rd period, but that is very large jump in ice time.
Esa has been a staple on the Stars' blueline for many years going all the way back to his first full year in the NHL in the 2016-2017 season. Briefly glancing at his career stats, I was relived a bit to look at his plus/minus (I know it's a terrible stat, but it's important to this conversation) and see he had the best plus/minus of his career last year. He played all 82 games last season and ended the season with a +29. For those unfamiliar with plus/minus, this means he was on the ice more for goals scored than goals against. So this could be viewed as a positive argument. Then.... I looked at his average time-on-ice and compared it to this year and year's previous.
His time-on-ice significantly dropped from the 2021-2022 season to the 2022-2023 season. A two minute difference doesn't seem like much, but it is noteworthy when you look at his plus/minus. The conclusion I draw from this is he is much more effective playing around 20 minutes a games which is not good news if we as Stars' fans are hoping to rely on him more with Miro being out. It makes me feel very uneasy.
I've done a bit of doom-and-gloom, so let's look at something positive. A what-if situation.
This could be the unfortunate, but perfect opportunity for Thomas Harley to prove he can handle more responsibilities on the back end. In the first 29 games of the season, Harley had played more than 20 minutes only six times. He has now surpassed 20 minutes of ice time in six of the last eight games. He has been relied upon more by Pete DeBoer as the season has progressed, and now, he has the opportunity to play as a top 2 defenseman. The injury to Miro looks very grim, but this could be the moment Harley truly establishes himself as the Stars' #2 defenseman.
But seriously, Miro, please be okay or come back as soon as possible. This team is absolutely not the same without you.
