Defenseman activated from LTIR, averaged 25:10 of ice time prior to knee injury on Jan. 28
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DALLAS — Miro Heiskanen was activated from long-term injured reserve on Tuesday and returned from a knee injury for the Dallas Stars in Game 4 of the Western Conference Second Round against the Winnipeg Jets at American Airlines Center.
Heiskanen hadn’t played since Jan. 28, and the initial timeline for recovery was 3-4 months. Still, the Stars finished fifth in the NHL in the regular season (50-26-6), defeated the Colorado Avalanche in seven games in the first round and lead the Jets 2-1 in this best-of-7 series.
“Best defenseman in the NHL in my opinion,” Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger said. “Whenever you can insert a guy like that, it’s obviously a huge boost. As a goalie especially, just happy to have him back. I mean, the guys that have filled in for him have done an unreal job getting us to this point and stuff, so just the fact that you can play that well and then add a guy like that is pretty great.”
Stars coach Pete DeBoer said he wants to temper expectations because Heiskanen had what he called “a serious knee surgery” and has missed 3 1/2 months.
But Heiskanen led the Stars in average ice time (25:10) and led Dallas defensemen with 25 points (five goals, 20 assists) in 50 games prior to his injury.
Dallas has reached the Western Conference Final in each of the past two seasons. In those two Stanley Cup Playoff runs combined, Heiskanen led the Stars with 28:00 of average ice time and their defensemen with 28 points (seven goals, 21 assists) in 38 games.
“Obviously, he’s a fantastic player, their best defenseman,” Jets center Mark Scheifele said. “Obviously, he’s been out for a while. Obviously, it’s a big boost to their lineup, so we’ve got to be even better.”
Forward Mikko Rantanen played against Heiskanen for years as a member of the Avalanche.
“It’s tough, because he’s such a good skater, smart player, rarely makes mistakes,” said Rantanen, who was traded to the Stars by the Carolina Hurricanes on March 7. “He’s not overly physical, but it’s hard to catch him, and he’s very good breaking the puck out and joins the rush and is obviously hard to defend on the blue line because of the way he moves.”
The Stars dressed 11 forwards and seven defensemen for Game 4, which could give more ice time to Rantanen, who leads the playoffs with 18 points (nine goals, nine assists) in 10 games, including 17 points (nine goals, eight assists) in his past six.
“I think we’ve kind of seen that even when they’ve gone 12 and six,” Scheifele said. “Rantanen’s kind of hopped into a bunch of different lines, depending on penalty kills and power plays and stuff like that. Obviously, Rantanen’s been unbelievable this playoffs. It definitely adds a wrinkle, but at the end of the day, it just comes down to the way we play.”
Before the game, Stars defenseman Cody Ceci said it could be a great way to integrate Heiskanen into the lineup.
“Coming back from injury is never easy, but he’s been working hard,” Ceci said. “He’s been working hard when we’ve been playing. He’s ready to go.”
