Dallas Stars: Five Potential 2018-19 NHL Award Winners

Calder Memorial Trophy: Miro Heiskanen

The Dallas Stars drafted Miro Heiskanen third overall in 2017, but he spent last season playing in Finland. This year, it looks like he’ll be making the jump over to the States and he’s got a lot of potential.

While he missed out on the NHL last year, that meant he did make it to the Olympic games, as he was chosen to play for Finland. He also played in both World Juniors and Worlds this year. While at Worlds, he spent time getting to know Julius Honka, who is potentially his future partner in Dallas.

Heiskanen’s play hasn’t been outrageously amazing over the last year, but it’s been very good and he’s still very young. There’s no reason to think he won’t be even better next year.

Theoretically, this award is Rasmus Dahlin’s to lose, but it’s far from a given that the first overall pick will take it home. Look at examples like Connor McDavid, Steven Stamkos, John Tavares, or Taylor Hall, all of whom lost it in their rookie seasons. It often goes to unexpected players who have better-than-predicted seasons. Heiskanen has an extra year of experience and he’s coming into a team that will give him a good opportunity.

With Jim Montgomery to coach him and help him develop, Heiskanen is in a position to have a great rookie season. It may not be good enough to win the trophy, but it can probably be good enough to at least be in the conversation. Montgomery has been working with young players on their development as a college coach, so he brings some much-needed experience in that area to the Stars and to Heiskanen in particular.