Heiskanen Hype Thread

[Troy McClure]

This video is like hockey Viagra.

[ScubaSteve]

Most elite defensemen wear #33. So I'm sold.

[SaintAngerBH]

He has disgraced Goligoski's number. Not one time did he stare at the ceiling in disbelief as the puck bounced off him and into the net.

[Troy McClure]

He put his body between the forward and the puck. He moved the puck to safe areas where the forward couldn't get to it. He outskated the forward to get to the puck. He made a split decision exit pass to end the attack.

I'm tearing up over here.

[ScubaSteve]

He put his body between the forward and the puck. He moved the puck to safe areas where the forward couldn't get to it. He outskated the forward to get to the puck. He made a split decision exit pass to end the attack.

I'm tearing up over here.

Let's keep in mind that the guys he's competing against right now are the equivalent of the green turtles in Level 1-1 of Super Mario World. This is development camp.

[The Frugal Gourmet]

He has disgraced Goligoski's number. Not one time did he stare at the ceiling in disbelief as the puck bounced off him and into the net.

This is funny.

[The Frugal Gourmet]

I look forward to the future day when he is declared a bust and for Todd to be the only person left defending him.

[oglethorpe]

This video is like hockey Viagra.

[ToddM]

I look forward to the future day when he is declared a bust and for Todd to be the only person left defending him.

Im actually a little leery about him. He moved up the draft boards ridick fast... one month he was roughly a #10, then after the summer tourney, he rockets up to top three? I mean, he looks good and all, but...

[ScubaSteve]

More like Hypeskanen, AMIRITE?

[Troy McClure]

I look forward to the future day when he is declared a bust and for Todd to be the only person left defending him.

Im actually a little leery about him. He moved up the draft boards ridick fast... one month he was roughly a #10, then after the summer tourney, he rockets up to top three? I mean, he looks good and all, but...

I'll champion Heiskanen. You can keep Nichushkin. Deal?

[ToddM]

Some pretty gifs for salivating to:

https://www.defendingbigd.com/2017/7/11 ... -nhl-ready

[The Frugal Gourmet]

Does he have what it takes to beat out the other 47 generic Stars defensemen and make the team?

[B Kat]

Does he have what it takes to beat out the other 47 generic Stars defensemen and make the team?

Good question. Our top 6 are pretty good. Klingberg, Lindell, Methot, Hamhuis, Johns & Julie. We don't want to have him be a #7. So is he better than Hamhuis, Johns or Julie? Johns or Julie as a #7 isn't ideal either. So, he probably goes back to Europe for next season and he replaces Hamhuis next season. But it would be awesome if he forces himself into the NHL.

Nemeth, Oleksiak or Pateryn is probably penciled in for a #7. Maybe Nill thinks he can slip one of those three down to the AHL.

[SaintAngerBH]

Hamhuis is the obvious one to sit if Heiskanen is good enough.

[ToddM]

Yeah, I guess it just depends on how good a camp/pre-season he has. No one, not even Janmark's mom, expected him to come out of camp as a top-6 forward logging huge minutes in all situations. If Heiskanen can take the reigns, he pretty much makes Hamhuis expendable. Well.... more expendable.

[Troy McClure]

I think there's no way. Even if he plays well enough to earn a spot, Nill isn't going to be able to move three d-men to make room for him.

[ScubaSteve]

I think Honka might end up being the odd man out here. Klingberg and now Heiskanen make Honka a little redundant.

[Troy McClure]

That's the beauty of the Heiskanen pick. His preferred side is the left side, so you have Klingberg and Honka on the right with Heiskanen playing the left side with one of them.

[ScubaSteve]

That's the beauty of the Heiskanen pick. His preferred side is the left side, so you have Klingberg and Honka on the right with Heiskanen playing the left side with one of them.

What I mean is they are all basically the same player. Undersized, offensive, puck-moving Euros. Which are great to have, don't get me wrong, but it might be a little concerning to load up too much on that. Heiskanen and Klingberg are both 6-foot, 175. Honka is even smaller. You need to have a little bit of size. You're going to get wrecked by the Winnpegs and Anaheims of the league that are have the big boys. What you need is a good version of Johns.

[SaintAngerBH]

I would love a Derian Hatcher would could actually skate.

[Troy McClure]

That's the beauty of the Heiskanen pick. His preferred side is the left side, so you have Klingberg and Honka on the right with Heiskanen playing the left side with one of them.

What I mean is they are all basically the same player. Undersized, offensive, puck-moving Euros. Which are great to have, don't get me wrong, but it might be a little concerning to load up too much on that. Heiskanen and Klingberg are both 6-foot, 175. Honka is even smaller. You need to have a little bit of size. You're going to get wrecked by the Winnpegs and Anaheims of the league that are have the big boys. What you need is a good version of Johns.

If Heiskanen is the defensive player we are told he is, then I think he's a fine fit with either guy.

[Jason]

Im actually a little leery about him. He moved up the draft boards ridick fast... one month he was roughly a #10, then after the summer tourney, he rockets up to top three? I mean, he looks good and all, but...

If you want go back to like September of 2016
[urlnp=http://www.tsn.ca/craig-s-list-nolan-pa ... t-1.566071]Button had him ranked 18th prior to his draft year starting.[/urlnp]
After the entire year was over he was top 3. Besides, these rankings vary from what teams use. McKenzie's are so accurate because he talks to scouts.

Otherwise he was already that high (top 5) prior to the World U-18s in April (which Nill attended). That and the World Juniors were the only times he played against other players in his age group.

His play in the Liiga at the age of 17, is what surged his ranking into the top 5.
At the age of 17 he was playing 19 minutes per game against men, and 20:30 minutes per game in the playoffs. Big part of the team's PK, and some PP time. He also had the most points by a 1st year player in the Finland's top league in like 26 years.
HIFK's Corsi was 52.9% with Heiskanen on the ice, 49.3% without him on the ice. 2nd on team in Corsi, 1st for defenseman in Corsi

[urlnp=http://hfboards.hockeysfuture.com/showt ... 69&page=21]The shot differential with Heiskanen[/urlnp] on the ice was IFK's best of the d-men at +43. The next best d-man (who played a decent amount of games) had a +10.

Joe Finley, who was paired with Heiskanen in almost all the games they both were healthy, had a -31 shot differential, while playing 9 more games than Heiskanen.

Heiskanen compared to other HIFK defensemen with more than 30 GP during the regular season:

Corsi: 52,9 %, next best 50,4 %.
Corsi Close: 52,1 %, next best 49,5 %
5vs5 shot differential: +43, next best +10.

playoffs advanced stats for the HIFK d-men.

Heiskanen had the best 5vs5 shot differential of his team, at 0. All the other d-men had a negative differential.

[urlnp=http://hfboards.hockeysfuture.com/showt ... 169&page=6]In March 2017 (Grant McCagg[/urlnp]) this (who talks to NHL scouts)

Lots of scouts have Heiskanen top five..and don't have Salo in their top 100..that's how much of a discrepancy there is between the two. Every scout I deal with has Heiskanen rated as the top defenceman in the draft...I have him third overall at this time on Recrutes top 100. Grossly underrated by the casual scout.

Some of the big risers late were Hampus Lindholm and Oliver Ekman-Larsson.

[B Kat]

I think there's no way. Even if he plays well enough to earn a spot, Nill isn't going to be able to move three d-men to make room for him.

He won't have to move 3 dmen. Send Julie down (not that I advocate, but he is still waiver exempt), and send down the other spares, if they get claimed, yay for them, if not Texas is better and we have them in case of injury. And just have Hamhuis sit if Heiskanen blows us away at camp.

And point taken that several D are of the same mold, smaller and faster, but that is the way things are trending. Too early to give up on any of these young stud muffins. Let them get beat to death before we worry about it.

[Jason]

That's the beauty of the Heiskanen pick. His preferred side is the left side, so you have Klingberg and Honka on the right with Heiskanen playing the left side with one of them.

What I mean is they are all basically the same player. Undersized, offensive, puck-moving Euros. Which are great to have, don't get me wrong, but it might be a little concerning to load up too much on that. Heiskanen and Klingberg are both 6-foot, 175. Honka is even smaller. You need to have a little bit of size. You're going to get wrecked by the Winnpegs and Anaheims of the league that are have the big boys. What you need is a good version of Johns.

Similar in size/weight eventually.
Heiskanen isn't even 18 yet, he might still grow another inch or two. Honka and Klingberg are different styles, Honka also drives puck possession far more then Klingberg. Heiskanen is very advanced defensively something that Klingberg won't have.
Ideally, Klingberg is going to be on the team's second defensive pairing. Heiskanen and Honka on the top pairing.
Besides there's the other half of the defense core they can fill in with bigger players.

[Troy McClure]

I think there's no way. Even if he plays well enough to earn a spot, Nill isn't going to be able to move three d-men to make room for him.

He won't have to move 3 dmen. Send Julie down (not that I advocate, but he is still waiver exempt), and send down the other spares, if they get claimed, yay for them, if not Texas is better and we have them in case of injury. And just have Hamhuis sit if Heiskanen blows us away at camp.

And point taken that several D are of the same mold, smaller and faster, but that is the way things are trending. Too early to give up on any of these young stud muffins. Let them get beat to death before we worry about it.

Imagine if both Honka and Heiskanen are awesome in camp and deserve a spot.

Methot - Klingberg
Lindell-Honka
Heiskanen-Johns

Hamhuis
Nemeth
Oleksiak
Pateryn

At least two players would have to go. I think I saw the Texas Stars are already about full of players. There may not be room to send multiple guys down.

No matter what, with the number of bodies, I doubt Heiskanen has a real shot to make the team. On top of that, it will be a damn shame if Honka gets sent down all because Nill is unwilling or unable to get rid of some deadwood. If Honka's play has earned him a spot, I hope he gets it.

[ToddM]

That's the beauty of the Heiskanen pick. His preferred side is the left side, so you have Klingberg and Honka on the right with Heiskanen playing the left side with one of them.

What I mean is they are all basically the same player. Undersized, offensive, puck-moving Euros. Which are great to have, don't get me wrong, but it might be a little concerning to load up too much on that. Heiskanen and Klingberg are both 6-foot, 175. Honka is even smaller. You need to have a little bit of size. You're going to get wrecked by the Winnpegs and Anaheims of the league that are have the big boys. What you need is a good version of Johns.

Johns is a good version of Johns. He took the Ruff Step Back last season, but he's exactly the kind of guy who shines under Hitchcock.

I'm not worried about a surplus of small, puck-moving d-men. In general, they tend to last longer and play at a higher level than the bruisers.

[B Kat]

At least two players would have to go. I think I saw the Texas Stars are already about full of players. There may not be room to send multiple guys down.

No matter what, with the number of bodies, I doubt Heiskanen has a real shot to make the team. On top of that, it will be a damn shame if Honka gets sent down all because Nill is unwilling or unable to get rid of some deadwood. If Honka's play has earned him a spot, I hope he gets it.

I would imagine one of the 3 gets claimed on the way down.

But I do agree that Heiskanen is not likely to make the team and will be sent back to Europe. Nill has said as much. And I also agree that Julie should play in the NHL. But he could be sent down to start so Nill has more time to manage the too many Dmen.

[Jason]

Nashville's top 4.
Josi 6'1 200
Subban 6' 200
Ekholm 6'4 215
Ellis 5'10 178

Ducks (top 6)
Lindholm 6'2
Vatanen 5'10
Fowler 6'1
Manson 6'3
Bieksa 6'1
Montour 6'0

Stars
Heiskanen 6'1
Honka 5'11 195
Lindell 6'3 215
Klingberg 6'2 190

[ToddM]

What is this, a DEFENSE for ANTS!?!?