First Shift: Stars embrace “committee” approach in Heiskanen’s absence

The Stars have navigated an injury hiatus for starting goalie Jake Oettinger that has stretched over 10 games, going 6-2-2 in that span.

Now, they’ll have to try and do something similar without top defenseman Miro Heiskanen, who suffered a lower body injury Thursday night against Colorado and is “week to week,” according to coach Pete DeBoer.

“It doesn’t look terrible, as in he’s not out for the season, but I would term it more week to week than day to day,” DeBoer said. “No surgery or any of that so that’s the good news and the information I have so far.”

Losing Heiskanen is huge. He is both the Stars and one of the NHL’s leaders in time on ice and he controls a great deal of puck possession for the Stars. The 24-year-old ranks sixth in the NHL in time on ice at 25:04 and 12th among defensemen in scoring with 27 points (4 goals, 23 assists) in 37 games.

“You feel it everywhere,” DeBoer said. “We’ll miss him in all of those areas.”

That said, the team as a whole is ready to move forward.

“You look around the league and everyone goes through these situations,” DeBoer said. “Someone’s misfortune is someone else’s opportunity. You have to make the most of it. Other guys are going to have to play more. Other guys are going to have to play in different situations. Other guys are going to have to come out of the crowd and into the lineup. You’ve got to get the job done and make your case that you can help us win.”

Nils Lundkvist, who has been a healthy scratch in 10 of the team’s past 16 games, said he is ready for whatever comes.

“I’ll be ready when my number is called,” Lundkvist said. “You have to find the balance. The NHL is about the mental thing and trusting yourself. If you’re trying to not make a mistake, that’s not a good way to play hockey. So I’m going to go out there and trust myself and do my best.”

DeBoer said he likes what he has seen from Lundkvist.

“I think David Quinn in San Jose said, `Failure is the greatest teacher.’ That’s what young guys have to go through,” DeBoer said of the struggles Lundkvist has had this season. “That’s what young players have to go through. The guys that turn this into a career turn those setbacks into positive production going forward. They fix things and they take another step. We plopped him in there against Chicago and Montreal and he looked good, he looked fine. Now he’s going to have to come in and do it with Miro out.”

But DeBoer emphasized no player will do what Heiskanen did. That’s why the solution is by committee.

“You’ve got to be careful,” DeBoer said. “You’re not replacing Miro and we don’t want to put too much on Harls but he has some of those abilities and he’s still a young player. I think he wants that. I think he has the ability to fill in some of that but this is going to be by committee. You don’t replace a guy like that, even with Thomas Harley elevating his game.”

Key Numbers

8-2-2
Dallas is in the middle of an 11-game stretch in which 10 of the games are against Central Division teams. The Stars are 8-2-2 in games against divisional opponents this season.

4
Former Nashville player Craig Smith has 4 points (3 goals, 1 assist) in four games against his old team and is 4-0-0 in that stretch. He also is plus-7 in those games.

21.9
Nashville has the most hits in the league at 21.9 per game. Dallas has the fewest hits at 12.8 per game.

He Said It

“He’s a huge piece of the team, we know that. You see a team tonight that definitely has a little bit more speed around the league. It’s no secret there with some of those players. Guys were getting the job done and handling it well. We had our looks and chances. You want to shut it down when you have that one goal lead at the end and go from there. We’ll take a look at it, see what happened and move on.”

- Stars forward Joe Pavelski on losing defenseman Miro Heiskanen

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika.