The 21-year-old defenseman scored 35 points (eight goals, 27 assists) in 68 games in his second NHL season, and scored 26 points (six goals, 20 assists) in 27 postseason games, best among defensemen and third behind Tampa Bay Lightning forwards Nikita Kucherov (34 points) and Brayden Point (33).
The speedy Heiskanen shows the poise of a veteran and has good chemistry with Jamie Oleksiak on Dallas' second defense pair. The Stars are expecting Heiskanen to get even better.
"We're a team off the map to a lot of the other media out there, and I think it was kind of a coming out for him [in the postseason]," Nill said. "People started to realize who this guy is, and he showed he can play any game he wants. When you look at his age, and especially the position, you look at defensemen, marquee defensemen usually don't hit their peaks until they're 26, 27. So I think there's more growth there."