Harley making most of extended chance with Stars

DALLAS -- Thomas Harley has raised his profile in the NHL after playing his way onto the top pair for the Dallas Stars with Miro Heiskanen this season.

Entering their game against the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; HULU, ESPN+), the 22-year-old defenseman has 30 points (13 goals, 17 assists) averaging 20:03 of ice-time in 50 games this season.

At this time last year, Harley was in the American Hockey League, waiting for his chance to play in the NHL.

"It was the best thing for me going to the AHL," Harley said. "I played 22 minutes a night, really honed in on my defense and [penalty kill] and things like that, and it worked out well. The [management] upstairs, they know what they're doing."

A first-round pick in the 2019 NHL Draft (No. 18), Harley finished his junior career with Mississauga of the Ontario Hockey League in 2020, and was on the taxi squad that went to the Edmonton bubble where the NHL playoffs were held as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. He made his debut in a round-robin game, playing 10:58 before not playing in the remainder of the playoffs.

The Stars coaching staff wanted to see Harley's defensive game improve, which is why he was sent to Texas of the AHL in 2021-22. He had 25 points (eight goals, 17 assists) that season, which each led AHL rookies. He was rewarded with 34 games in the NHL the next season (2021-22), which included scoring his first goal and averaging 13:41 of average ice time per game.

Harley said he was ready to make the leap to the NHL full-time at the start of the 2022-23 season, but struggled defensively in training camp.

"It's always been my defending," Harley said. "If you look at where I was two years ago, or even last year in training camp, versus where I was in the [2023] playoffs, it's two really different players. I played a whole lot better. Whether it's off the rush or in the corners or anything like that, I really bared down and focused on working on that."

The Stars saw improvements in his game in Texas, but Harley's call-up had to wait until the end of the regular season, where he played six regular season games before being thrust into a top-six role during the team's run to the Western Conference Final. He made an immediate impact, finishing with one goal and nine points.

Harley was then slotted into a top-six role out of training camp this season and took another step forward when Heiskanen was injured in January, missing 10 games and forcing Harley to take on more minutes as well as filling in on the top power-play unit.

"After what he did in the playoffs last year, my expectation was that he was going to be really solid in a defensive role for us [this year]," Stars coach Peter DeBoer said. "We were [originally] going to add penalty killing to his minutes, amp his minutes up as the season went on. I didn't see the offensive piece coming this quickly, obviously. He forced us to play him in those situations by what he did with the opportunities he had."

While his defensive game and reliability in his own end have earned him the opportunity to be relied upon, it's been Harley's offensive game that has impressed teammates.

"His finishing ability as a defenseman is pretty elite. You don't see many [defenseman] scoring the way he is," Stars forward Matt Duchene said. "He's scoring from places that forwards score from more than [defensemen]. He doesn't have a big one-timer or anything like that. He has smart wristers from the point, but when he's getting those grade A looks, he's burying them. He's a very good goal scorer, that's probably one of his most underrated qualities that people don't realize. Some of the shots that he takes are just so smart. It's fun to watch him."

Stars goaltender Scott Wedgewood routinely gets to face Harley in practice.

"He's got a good shot, good placement, gets it on net," Wedgewood said. "… I think watching Miro and how good Miro is defensively with his stick is something [Harley] wants to improve on. His skating ability is next to none, and he's been able to find the net. It's a [heck] of a pairing and how young he is, [Harley]'s going to play a lot of minutes and make a lot of money."

Harley scored back-to-back overtime goals against the Anaheim Ducks on Jan. 25, and Washington Capitals on Jan. 27 and has helped Dallas (33-14-6) to first place in the Central Division.

"This is new. Things are going in right now, and hopefully it keeps going that way," Harley said. "I get some great passes in the scoring areas and just not missing the goalies, I guess."