The Stars saw improvements in his game in Texas, but Harley’s call-up had to wait until the end of the regular season, where he played six regular season games before being thrust into a top-six role during the team’s run to the Western Conference Final. He made an immediate impact, finishing with one goal and nine points.
Harley was then slotted into a top-six role out of training camp this season and took another step forward when Heiskanen was injured in January, missing 10 games and forcing Harley to take on more minutes as well as filling in on the top power-play unit.
“After what he did in the playoffs last year, my expectation was that he was going to be really solid in a defensive role for us [this year],” Stars coach Peter DeBoer said. “We were [originally] going to add penalty killing to his minutes, amp his minutes up as the season went on. I didn’t see the offensive piece coming this quickly, obviously. He forced us to play him in those situations by what he did with the opportunities he had.”
While his defensive game and reliability in his own end have earned him the opportunity to be relied upon, it’s been Harley’s offensive game that has impressed teammates.
“His finishing ability as a defenseman is pretty elite. You don’t see many [defenseman] scoring the way he is,” Stars forward Matt Duchene said. “He’s scoring from places that forwards score from more than [defensemen]. He doesn’t have a big one-timer or anything like that. He has smart wristers from the point, but when he’s getting those grade A looks, he’s burying them. He’s a very good goal scorer, that’s probably one of his most underrated qualities that people don’t realize. Some of the shots that he takes are just so smart. It’s fun to watch him.”
Stars goaltender Scott Wedgewood routinely gets to face Harley in practice.
“He’s got a good shot, good placement, gets it on net,” Wedgewood said. “… I think watching Miro and how good Miro is defensively with his stick is something [Harley] wants to improve on. His skating ability is next to none, and he’s been able to find the net. It’s a [heck] of a pairing and how young he is, [Harley]’s going to play a lot of minutes and make a lot of money.”
Harley scored back-to-back overtime goals against the Anaheim Ducks on Jan. 25, and Washington Capitals on Jan. 27 and has helped Dallas (33-14-6) to first place in the Central Division.
“This is new. Things are going in right now, and hopefully it keeps going that way,” Harley said. “I get some great passes in the scoring areas and just not missing the goalies, I guess.”
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