Dallas Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen has been established as an elite defenseman in the NHL for years now, but he's two rounds away from a Stanley Cup championship that would cement him as an all-time great.
The third overall pick from the 2017 NHL Entry Draft made a quick impact as a rookie in 2018-2019, and over the past several years he's blossomed into an elite two-way defenseman who's unquestionably in the top eight or so in the league.
He can legitimately be argued as high as the third or fourth best defender in the league, but a Stanley Cup championship this year could firmly vault him into the top two or three.
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Dallas Defenseman Heiskanen Has a Lot to Gain with a Cup
Heiskanen would not be the first defenseman from the 2017 draft to use a title to establish himself as one of the very best.
In 2022, Colorado defenseman Cale Makar won the Cup, the Conn Smythe as the MVP of the playoffs, and the Norris trophy as the league's top defenseman.
That year and his continued sustained success has cemented him as the league's best defender, and Heiskanen could start to approach that conversation if he can guide the Stars past the Oilers and the eventual Eastern Conference champion to a Stanley Cup.
Heiskanen does not have quite the offensive upside that Makar possesses. His career high in points is 73, but his excellence in all three zones, skating ability, defensive stick, and physicality make him the ideal defenseman for the modern NHL.
It's all been on display in this postseason. Heiskanen has scored 5 goals and totaled 13 points, ranking him behind just Makar and Edmonton's Evan Bouchard in scoring by a defenseman.
With Heiskanen on the ice at 5-on-5, the Stars are scoring more goals than they allow, attempting more shots than they allow, and generating more high-danger chances than they allow.
This despite the fact that Heiskanen drew the MacKinnon and Makar matchup often from Colorado, and had to deal with a tough matchup against Vegas regardless of who the Golden Knights threw over the boards.
The mark of an elite defenseman now is to produce offense through his own offensive talent while coming out ahead in those prior metrics against the other team's top performers.
Heiskanen does that and more in both regards, and if he can do it on his way to a championship, it's time to move him ahead of Adam Fox and Quinn Hughes in consensus defenseman rankings. He is the elite of the elite.
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