Dallas Stars: Picking Miro Heiskanen at Third Just Makes Sense
By Sophia Horst
According to 9 different mock drafts, the Dallas Stars are going to select either Gabriel Vilardi, Casey Mittelstadt, or Miro Heiskanen at third in the 2017 draft. While Vilardi and Mittelstadt are both ranked much higher by the NHL, Heiskanen is the best ranked defenseman in the draft.
Miro Heiskanen, now only 17 years old, is the best defenseman prospect in the 2017 draft. Since there is a lot of offensive players ranked higher this year, Heiskanen is expected to go anywhere between 3rd and 15th. The Dallas Stars would have to miss out on a top centerman to get Heiskanen but their offense isn’t something that they need to improve on.
Heiskanen is Finnish who plays for HIFK of the Liiga, which is apparently a big deal in Finland. He moves the puck really well, is a great two-way player, and has a very mature game considering his age. One big strength he has that the Stars could use is his great positioning. He’s almost always in the right spot especially on penalty kills. Since the Stars ranked dead last in penalty kills this past season, a guy like Heiskanen seems like a great pick to change that.
But Heiskanen does have one big weakness, his size. He’s only 175lbs even though he’s 6’0″ tall. Basically, he’s like Klingberg not Johns or Oleksiak. Semi-fortunately, he once again is only 17. He has time to fill out and develop more strength but obviously he’s not going to be huge before the 2017-2018 season starts.
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Casey Mittelstadt and Gabriel Vilardi are both great picks but not for the Stars. They’re both centers. The Dallas Stars already have Tyler Seguin, Jason Spezza, Radek Faksa, Devin Shore, and Mattias Janmark at center the last thing they need is another one. Everyone knows that defense was the Stars biggest weakness last season so why waste another pick on a offensively player?
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If the Stars don’t think Heiskanen isn’t ready to play in the NHL, I can definitely see the Stars trying to trade the 3rd overall pick for an established defenseman instead of just picking up another center. But taking Heiskanen would be the best guy for the Stars to take if they keep their pick at third.