Stars’ Miro Heiskanen expected to return to lineup in Game 4

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.

Sidelined since late January after undergoing knee surgery, Heiskanen missed the final 32 contests of the regular season as well as the Stars’ first 10 games of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Limited to 50 games with the Stars this season in which he notched five goals and 20 assists for 25 points, Heiskanen also tallied 10 penalty minutes and a plus-seven rating while averaging more than 25 minutes of ice time per game, the most among all Dallas skaters.

Originally chosen third overall by Dallas in the 2017 NHL Draft, the 25-year-old Finnish-born blue-liner has since spent seven seasons with the Stars where through 475 career contests he has collected 58 goals and 225 assists for 283 points. Heiskanen has also added 61 points counting 16 goals and 45 assists in 85 postseason appearances, highlighted by a team-leading 26 points in 27 games en route to the 2020 Stanley Cup Final before the Stars ultimately fell to the Tampa Bay Lightning in a six-game set.

This postseason, in Heiskanen’s absence, the Stars have turned to 23-year-old blue-liner Thomas Harley who through 10 outings leads all Dallas defensemen with eight points counting three goals and five assists coupled with four penalty minutes and a minus-six mark while averaging more than 27 minutes of ice time per game.

The Stars enter Tuesday’s contest holding a 2-1 series advantage on the Jets, while a home-ice victory would grant the club the opportunity to close out the second-round series in Game 5 set for Thursday in Winnipeg. Through three games this round, the Stars have been headlined by deadline addition Mikko Rantanen who has picked up four goals and two assists for six points.