The Dallas Stars will be without young defenseman Miro Heiskanen indefinitely after he was diagnosed with mononucleosis. Heiskanen has been placed on injured reserve retroactive to his last game played on March 2, meaning he will be able to be activated whenever he is ready to return.
Just 22, Heiskanen has taken over as arguably the most important player on the Stars roster, averaging nearly 25 minutes a night while playing in all situations. Without him, the Stars played last night with almost just four defenders, giving Joel Hanley and Thomas Harley fewer than ten minutes each. The top four of Ryan Suter (28:51), Jani Hakanpaa (25:32), John Klingberg (23:36), and Esa Lindell (22:56) all played huge minutes in a losing effort against the Nashville Predators in one of the most important games of the year.
It’s Klingberg’s status that is so interesting now that Heiskanen is out. The pending free agent defenseman had been expected to be traded before the deadline, but over the last three games his ice time has exploded with the team desperately needing his offensive ability. If Dallas remains in the playoff run, it’s hard to justify trading Klingberg away until they have a more definite timeline on Heiskanen’s return.
Dallas now sits fifth in the Central Division, one point behind the Predators but still holds the second wild card spot in the west. The Edmonton Oilers, Vancouver Canucks, and Anaheim Ducks are hot on their heels, and without Heiskanen in the lineup, it will be all the more difficult to stay in that spot.
Trouble. Wonder how trade deadline goes now
I’m hoping we sell hard now.
I think Rads can get us a mid pick I would guess, if we hold 50% of Klinger and Pavs contracts they can get us great returns.
Holtby can probably snag us something decent.
It’s time to start looking younger at this point. Roope seems to be settled in and is the guy we thought he was a couple of years ago. Robo is killing it, Oetter looks like a long-term goalie. Lindell is still young, Petersen looks decent, obviously Miro. If Nill plays his cards right we may be able to stomach the Benn and Seguin contracts and be contenders in spite of them.
Best comments on this board. Well done sir
Been kissing some dirty mouths.
That right wing nut job LW Tyler Bertuzzi’s fault!!!
How is he a nut job exactly?
he is lucky the nhl, restaurants, arenas, concert halls have protocols in place for scum like him. probably be dead by now if wasnt for everyone treating the unvaccinated poorly to protect the unvaccinated /S
Ohhh okay, I get it. You’re mocking the absurdity of the vaccinated vs non-vaccinated argument. I thought you were serious initially. I thought somehow you thought that not wanting a vaccine that was pumped out incredibly quickly somehow made you not only right wing, but a nut job to boot. I figured there was no way you’re that stupid, but it’s hard to tell when on the internet sometimes.
Ooof. And mono can flatten you for MONTHS. My wife had it as a teenager, and took nearly a year to be 100% again.
I’d also say this DEFINITELY turns Dallas into sellers. They’re going nowhere fast with Heiskanen at half-speed.
My girlfriend freshman year of college caught it and was sick for weeks. She gave it to me, but I was symptomless but a carrier, and ended up spreading it to another woman later on, who had to be hospitalized from being so ill. Teenagers are gross.
When I was playing hockey in college I got mono and couldn’t play for several months because of spleen enlargement. Sometimes the spleen issue can last for months, you are basically barred from any contact sport or activity that could result in a ruptured spleen.
Very good comments how bad mono can be, Thanks for being upfront with a bad disease