LD Miro Heiskanen (2017, 3rd, DAL) Part II

[AveryStar4Eva]

Prospects are never a sure shot to succeed, but Heiskanen has all of the tools that you want in a modern defenceman. Hockey IQ and skating are his two biggest tools. I can see him becoming a Duncan Keith like defenceman with less physical play.

 

[Saekk]

Heiskanen is a generational prospect. A generational FINNISH defenceman prospect.

Nothing else.

 

[ijuka]

Heiskanen is a generational prospect. A generational FINNISH defenceman prospect.

Nothing else.

Uh, no. He definitely isn't a generational Finnish D prospect. Even next draft there might be a better Finnish D prospect.

This term's used way too often. He simply is an extremely good prospect. Let's hold the term "generational" for the truly special cases.

 

[Kaako Kappo]

Uh, no. He definitely isn't a generational Finnish D prospect. Even next draft there might be a better Finnish D prospect.

This term's used way too often. He simply is an extremely good prospect. Let's hold the term "generational" for the truly special cases.

There's no way in hell Honka is a better prospect than Heiskanen. The guy is flashy and has great offensive IQ, but his play in his own zone leaves a lot to be desired and it will take him a couple of years to work it out.

 

[ijuka]

There's no way in hell Honka is a better prospect than Heiskanen. The guy is flashy and has great offensive IQ, but his play in his own zone leaves a lot to be desired and it will take him a couple of years to work it out.

I really don't agree. I've liked his play in his own zone quite a bit in the few Liiga games and shift-by-shifts I've seen. He lead Liiga in corsi for players who played over 3 games as I've said and was +15 -4 for +11. Remember where Heiskanen was a year before he was drafted. Or even a year ago period.

Regardless, that was just a side note, not the main point of my last post.

 

[Kaako Kappo]

I really don't agree. I've liked his play in his own zone quite a bit in the few Liiga games and shift-by-shifts I've seen. He lead Liiga in corsi for players who played over 3 games as I've said and was +15 -4 for +11. Remember where Heiskanen was a year before he was drafted. Or even a year ago period.

Very small sample size, and as you can see most of the top 10 are people who barely played. Limited ice-time and sheltered role help too. He played 11 minutes per night on average. So i wouldn't put much weight into corsi in this case.

 

[ijuka]

Very small sample size, and as you can see most of the top 10 are people who barely played. Limited ice-time and sheltered role help too. He played 11 minutes per night on average. So i wouldn't put much weight into corsi in this case.

In a sheltered role he still scored almost 0.5 PPG and had fantastic advanced and concrete stats all around. And like I said, very good to the eye test. A limited role is only an issue if the player couldn't actually handle a larger role which I don't think is the case.

In any case, it, once again, was a side note and not the point of my message. I could use a different player as an example as well. Heiskanen's still not a "generational" Finnish D prospect.

You....are supposed score more in a sheltered role.

With less ice time it's more difficult to score also ... His p/60 was like 16% higher than Jesperi Kotkaniemi's, who is a forward and who went 3rd overall. Enough about this here, in any case...

 

[Kaako Kappo]

In a sheltered role he still scored almost 0.5 PPG and had fantastic advanced and concrete stats all around. And like I said, very good to the eye test. A limited role is only an issue if the player couldn't actually handle a larger role which I don't think is the case.

In any case, it, once again, was a side note and not the point of my message. I could use a different player as an example as well. Heiskanen's still not a "generational" Finnish D prospect.

You....are supposed score more in a sheltered role.

 

[Saekk]

Uh, no. He definitely isn't a generational Finnish D prospect. Even next draft there might be a better Finnish D prospect.

This term's used way too often. He simply is an extremely good prospect. Let's hold the term "generational" for the truly special cases.

Considering his draft pedigree and how he's played after the draft, i'd say he has a pretty good case for it.

What was the last time we had a D prospect of his caliber?

 

[ijuka]

Considering his draft pedigree and how he's played after the draft, i'd say he has a pretty good case for it.

What was the last time we had a D prospect of his caliber?

Rasmus Ristolainen probably isn't quite good enough. But still I don't think that if there are so good prospects coming up so soon in the future, this player can be called generational. If a superior Finnish D prospect comes very soon after, would you call them generational as well? Doesn't make sense.

 

[Saekk]

Rasmus Ristolainen probably isn't quite good enough. But still I don't think that if there are so good prospects coming up so soon in the future, this player can be called generational. If a superior Finnish D prospect comes very soon after, would you call them generational as well? Doesn't make sense.

Obviously if a better prospect comes out in near future, he would take the title to himself, it's not that hard to figure out.

 

[BB88]

I haven't seen Finland produce a D-prospect like Heiskanen, and I can't see Honka having the same overall impact Heiskanen has.

 

[TheGoldenJet]

Heiskanen's value, the reason he went number 3 was because he had unbelievable defensive instincts approaching someone like Lidstrom defensively (in terms of the prospect Lidstrom, not the finished article obviously).

The prospect Lidstrom was a third round pick, nothing special.

 

[Nate070]

He

Rasmus Ristolainen probably isn't quite good enough. But still I don't think that if there are so good prospects coming up so soon in the future, this player can be called generational. If a superior Finnish D prospect comes very soon after, would you call them generational as well? Doesn't make sense.

He is a generational D prospect for Finland. There has not been a better D-prospect than him basically ever.

 

[ChicagoBullsFan]

The guy who said Anttoni Honka is better defenceman prospect than Heiskanen has to be a JYP fan.
For hardly anyone else would write that-kind bullshit seriously.

If Anttoni Honka can be better than his brother Julius it's just a damn good job already
Defenceman's like Heiskanen not come from Finland every decade or generation.

If you have eyes on your head and you have seen Heiskanen playing you probably have seen that Heiskanen really has some Lidstrom in his game.

PS those pre-draft comparisons for Lidstrom didn't come empty.

 

[ChicagoBullsFan]

He

He is a generational D prospect for Finland. There has not been a better D-prospect than him basically ever.

That's true.
Finland hasn't ever had D prospect like Heiskanen.
Numminen,Timonen,Salo, Pitkänen, Berg and Lumme were all good defenceman's but not even near Heiskanen's caliber. Dman's like Heiskanen not come from Finland every generation.

 

[ChicagoBullsFan]

Obviously if a better prospect comes out in near future, he would take the title to himself, it's not that hard to figure out.

2002 age group has some interesting D prospects like Christoffer Sedoff, Ruben Rafkin, Topi Niemelä and Kasper Puutio. Lets see is any of those guys near Heiskanen's caliber.

 

[Puck Dogg]

He is a generational D prospect for Finland. There has not been a better D-prospect than him basically ever.

Aki Berg says hello.

 

[Kaako Kappo]

Aki Berg says hello.

Not knowing shit about him, looking at his pre-draft statistics, I'm having a very hard time understanding how he was considered some sort of an offensive dynamo.

That being said i still think Heiskanen as a prospect is a lot better. The kid carried his Liiga team as a 18-19 year old.

 

[Hockeyisl1fe]

Not knowing **** about him, looking at his pre-draft statistics, I'm having a very hard time understanding how he was considered some sort of an offensive dynamo.

That being said i still think Heiskanen as a prospect is a lot better. The kid carried his Liiga team as a 18-19 year old.

He wasn't, the comment was obviously sarcastic. He was drafted because he had size and could tackle. I can't imagine him being anything other than a late rounder today.

 

[Legend Leinonen]

Aki Berg was drafted 3rd because of his skating basically. He was seen as rare combination of size and speed and mobility.
Strangely his skating regressed a lot after draft -- I dunno if he put on too much weight or what??

 

[Ippenator]

Aki Berg was drafted 3rd because of his skating basically. He was seen as rare combination of size and speed and mobility.
Strangely his skating regressed a lot after draft -- I dunno if he put on too much weight or what??

I saw Berg play as a 16 year old junior, and for sure he was not at all that great a skater then and not later. Skating is a thing that I have noticed that quite many people don't have an eye for estimating when it is really good and what are all the different aspects that make a player really a good skater.

Berg had always weak and non explosive legs and he never trained too much for gaining more of explosive power to his legs. He did train way too much of his upper body and core, which made him in general a physically strong player in battles (unfortunately he was lacking intensity in general though), but he was never a really good skater - whom seriously claims that he was, is out to lunch in player evaluating. He was an ok skater for his size, but nothing better - at any point of his career.

What made him after all a pretty much mediocre NHL defenceman though was his lack of hockey IQ and lack of intensity. If you lack both of those, you will never be a real top class defenceman. Oh, and unfortunately he had also pretty much hands of stone. The size and ok skating for the size but lacking explosiveness fooled a lot of people at those times. He was just an enormously overrated prospect. There was never any real potential for true greatness in him. I saw him like that pretty soon already when I had seen him play in several games as a 16 year old.

Ristolainen is practically a better version in everything than Berg was, but unfortunately he is also lacking hockey IQ, so I find it hard to believe that Ristolainen will ever be a true top class defenceman.

But Heiskanen has practically everything else but size and a great shot. And he isn’t really small exactly and he has even clearly been able to get his shot better. Not great shot yet, but at least it seemed last season already like an average shot, and not really weak anymore, like it was still a year ago.

I think that people do overrate players nowadays way too much if they are really good skaters. In Heiskanen’s case he is of course a magnificent skater, but he actually has the even more important hockey skills which are the hockey IQ and good hands and passing skills. He doesn't have anymore also any clear weaknesses, so I would definitely have to say that Heiskanen is probably, along with Reijo Ruotsalainen, the best ever Finnish defenceman prospect that there has been. And still even that doesn't mean much until he has shown that he can be a truly dominant defenceman in the NHL. I very much hope for that to happen, but at the same time I’m not sure if it will really happen after all, or at least if it will happen as soon, as some people here seem to expect. There is unfortunately quite a lot of impatience at these boards, when talking about some young talent’s development.

 

[Puck Dogg]

Not knowing **** about him, looking at his pre-draft statistics, I'm having a very hard time understanding how he was considered some sort of an offensive dynamo.

That being said i still think Heiskanen as a prospect is a lot better. The kid carried his Liiga team as a 18-19 year old.

Berg was high draft pick mostly due his size and that he could play defense. In reality, his skills were pretty mediocre and he was never more than barely top six NHL defenseman. I doubt he would've made it even that far if he wasn't drafted so early.

Heiskanen in turn is the real deal. He was best defenseman in Liiga despite being only 18 years old. Skating, hockey IQ, skill, its all there. It's only a matter of when he makes it big time in the NHL.

 

[Johno]

Here we go

 

[Kcb12345]

Here we go

I want this so badly but I'm scared to buy it in case he doesn't turn out as expected. It's such a gorgeous jersey though ughhhhjhh