It’s a natural instinct of human beings to look for patterns and precedents when confronted with a singularity. In the singular case of Miro Heiskanen, there’s a point at which all those comparisons fail.
At this juncture, it’s foolish to argue that Heiskanen isn’t one of the NHL’s best blueliners (which isn’t to say that Buffalo Sabres Twitter won’t give it the old college try). But the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs have made it clear that he also towers above the better-heralded members of his generational cohort, as Sean Shapiro writes in The Athletic:
The 2020 playoffs haven’t been Heiskanen’s coronation as one of the NHL’s top defensemen.