Which player will be each NHL team’s superstar in 5 years?
Dallas Stars- Miro Heiskanen
After having the second best record in the NHL in the 2015-16 season, The Dallas Stars had a serious down year the following season and came nowhere close to a playoff spot by finishing 22nd the league. However, that one low point of a season arguably could be one of the best long term events that has happened to this team in awhile, because that 8th spot in the draft was lucky enough to win a draft lottery and move up to 3rd overall in the 2017 NHL draft to select defenseman Miro Heiskanen, who already looks on pace to be a world beater at just 19 years old.
Heiskanen made the Stars out of training camp this season as expected, but it’s that way he’s seamlessly not just fit into the Stars defensive scheme, but improved upon it that has his overall projection through the roof at the moment. Heiskanen appears to have all the tools of an elite two way defenseman, and has no true weaknesses in his game. His skating and stickhandling is effortless and present on every shift, and his puck movement is nearly flawless and allows him to create plays all by himself. Add that with his creativity mixed with his hockey sense has him nearly always making the right plays with the puck, and his defensive awareness with his physicality have just as much of a threat in his own end.
Five years from now, I’d be hard pressed to find a scenario where Heiskanen doesn’t find a way to work himself into Norris contention. His skill set is one of the most complete packages a defenseman can have, and it’s just going to keep getting better for the 18 year old. Eventually it’ll be him and John Klingberg on the same defensive pair, and the league needs to watch out when that happens, because that will easily be a top three pair in the league with two potential Norris candidates.
With Heiskanen quickly evolving into an elite two way defenseman, there’s no excuse for Dallas to still be a middle of the pack team for much longer. With Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin in the midst of their primes, the window to win a Stanley Cup has to be opened soon, and defense will no longer been an excuse. They have Ben Bishop in net, and they’re going to have Jason Spezza’s contract off the books next season. If the Stars aren’t seriously competing for Stanley Cups within three seasons, that is entirely their own fault.