It's no secret that Miro Heiskanen has played a massive role for the Dallas Stars during his tenure with the organization. I would love to see him finish his career with the Stars and have his number retired alongside Mike Modano and Sergei Zubov. I know he's done enough already to be in the Dallas Stars Hall of Fame one day. However, I have one goal for Miro after the Winter Olympics break: become the modern-day Sergei Zubov.
I'm not trying to criticize his career, but I think he could take his game to the next level. I'm not asking him to go on a massive goal-scoring streak to finish the regular season. However, I would like to see him on the score sheet as a goal scorer as the Stars enter the final stretch of games after the Winter Olympics. One of the things the Stars are struggling with right now is offense from the blue line. It's time for Miro to step up and help the offense on the power play and at even strength.
If the Stars want to go deep into the Stanley Cup Playoffs later this year, Dallas needs goals from anyone. I understand Miro is more of an assist defenseman than a scorer, which he has shown; however, getting him to fire pucks into the net would make the Stars more lethal after the break. Stars' fans should want to see opposing teams like the Colorado Avalanche worry about Miro's scoring ability, which he unlocked if we end up playing them in a seven-game series.
Now, I know it might take some time for Miro to get the goal scoring going. I'm not expecting him to drop a hat trick against the St. Louis Blues unless he wants to. However, I would like to see more shots from him after the break. I think that with Miro scoring goals, a lot of teams would start freaking out as they prepare a strategy to stop the Stars' scoring depth. I'm sure Glen Gulutzan has already talked to Heiskanen about producing more offense, but I would like to challenge him to take his game to the next level.
I think every fan is waiting to see whether the Stars will enter the Olympic break with a six-game winning streak. That would undoubtedly be the momentum that will cause Jim Nill to make a trade after today's announcement that Artemi Panarin is going to the Los Angeles Kings for a cheap change. However, what would really make the Dallas Stars a post-break threat is seeing Heiskanen turn the clock back eight seasons to when he scored 12 goals. Let's see if Heiskanen can set a new record for most goals scored in a season after Italy.