After over three months out of the lineup, Dallas Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen is on the verge of making his 2025 Stanley Cup Playoff debut.
Stars head coach Pete DeBoer announced that Heiskanen would take part in morning skate, and if all goes well, the defenseman will return to action for Game 4 against the Winnipeg Jets at American Airlines Center Tuesday night.
Heiskanen, who had knee surgery in February, hasn’t played since Jan. 28. He suffered a significant knee injury when Golden Knights captain Mark Stone lunged at his knee during a regular-season meeting between the two teams.
Around the time of his surgery, the hope was that Heiskanen would return either late in the regular season or early in the playoffs. He was ruled day-to-day at the start of the postseason but did not appear in any of the first 10 playoff games for the Stars, despite skating with the team in practices for weeks.
DeBoer said his return date depended on a combination of how Heiskanen felt, how the team’s medical staff evaluated him and how comfortable his surgeon in New York felt about his return.
But the defenseman is now closer than ever to clearing the final hurdles of his recovery.
Heiskanen, whom the Stars drafted No. 3 overall in 2017, is widely regarded as a top-five defenseman in the NHL. With both lockdown defensive abilities and offensive prowess, Heiskanen recorded 25 points in 50 games for the Stars this year after logging 16 points in 19 playoff games for Dallas in 2024.
The Stars’ blue line has held strong in Heiskanen’s absence, with the third pair of rookie Lian Bichsel and AHL regular Alexander Petrovic exceeding expectations.
But Heiskanen’s return provides a big boost and relieves some of the pressure on players like Esa Lindell and Thomas Harley, who have had to account for some of his minutes. Heiskanen averaged over 25 minutes of ice time a night in the regular season.
DeBoer has said this series while Heiskanen’s return will provide a significant boost, he wants to temper expectations about what the defenseman can do in his first few games back after missing so much time.
“We’re not going to put him out on the ice for 30 minutes his first game back in three months,” DeBoer said Monday. “We’ll have to be smart about that.”
With Heiskanen’s potential return comes some other lineup decisions, DeBoer said. The team is considering playing 11 forwards and seven defensemen to ease Heiskanen back into the lineup.
“Those decisions are always difficult because you’re taking out players that have not only helped us all season, but have made some big contributions so far in the playoffs,” DeBoer said. “The 11-7 thing’s no big deal. It gives Mikko Rantanen some more ice time.”
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