Miro Heiskanen out Thursday as Stars eye weekend return

The first sign came Wednesday morning, when the No. 4 jersey wasn't on the ice with everyone else in Dallas.

Lia Assimakopoulos

@Lassimak

Still no Miro Heiskanen at practice today.

This goes back to the Stars' 6-5 win over Washington on Nov. 3. Heiskanen took a hit along the boards from Capitals forward Justin Sourdif, left early in the 2nd period and didn't come back. Glen Gulutzan called it day-to-day and sounded upbeat about how it looked right after it happened. Day-to-day has now turned into more than a week, and the team still won't say anything beyond upper-body injury.

About an hour and a half after that first post, the actual news came out. No Heiskanen Thursday. There was some good news with it, though: he's skating on his own, and the team hopes he's back by the weekend.

Lia Assimakopoulos

@Lassimak

Miro Heiskanen will not play Thursday. They’re hopefully he will be back by the weekend. He is skating on his own. Oskar Bäck could travel on the next road trip.

Skating alone is the step you want to see. It's still not contact, and it's not a full practice with the group, so treat the weekend as a target and not a promise. Dallas has Buffalo on Saturday and Florida on Sunday, so a back-to-back gives the Stars 2 chances to get him in. Trey Taylor was called up from AHL Texas on Wednesday and will probably take the open spot on the blue line against the Jets. The same update also said Oskar Bäck could travel on the next road trip, so the Stars might be getting bodies back on more than one end of the ice.

It's hard to overstate how much he matters. Heiskanen had 3 goals and 11 points in 14 games before he got hurt, and he was playing 25:58 a night. Last season he averaged more than 3 minutes a game on the power play and also more than 3 on the penalty kill. Very few players do both. He and Esa Lindell were one of the most-used pairs in the league. Dallas pays him like that, too: his 8-year, $67.6 million deal runs through 2028-29.

For anyone betting Stars games, this is the injury to keep an eye on. Thursday's line against Winnipeg should account for Dallas without its best defenseman. The weekend is harder to price. Look for Heiskanen in a regular practice jersey Friday. If he skates with the group, Saturday against Buffalo is in play. If he's skating alone again, Sunday against Florida looks more realistic, and maybe that's pushing it too.