What to expect from Stars’ Miro Heiskanen in return from knee injury

Miro Heiskanen is expected to make his long-awaited return to the lineup Tuesday when the Dallas Stars host the Winnipeg Jets for Game 4 of their second-round series, Stars head coach Pete DeBoer told Lia Assimakopoulos of The Dallas Morning News.

On Tuesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk are joined by Brien Rea to discuss Heiskanen’s expected return and what Dallas fans may see going forward.

Frank Seravalli: The storyline shifting tonight for the Stars, with Miro Heiskanen potentially making his return for the first time since Jan. 28. I know we’ve talked about it and said, “Haha, the Stars are this successful without far-and-away their best defenseman.”

But it feels like it’s been a long time coming for Heiskanen since he’s been so active in the morning skates, yet now as he gets prepared to return, what do you think we can expect from him as he dives right into the deep end of the pool in Round 2?

Brien Rea: That’s the $1,000,000 question, and I wish I had an answer for you. Pete DeBoer was fairly honest, in terms of how hockey coaches can be during the playoffs, but he has said this entire time, “With all he activity Heiskanen has had, it’s not just about a player feeling better and coming back.”

We’re talking about a player who essentially had knee injury. There’s a number of boxes and personnel that need to sign off, in a number of different areas, in rehab and recovery, to get to this point.

I think that’s why we’ve seen the teaser, but we haven’t had the payoff yet, as the team wants to approach this the right way. Also, this is your franchise cornerstone, and you have him for another four years under contract, so this isn’t just about one playoff run or one playoff series with Miro Heiskanen. There’s a bigger picture to work with, here.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…