Heatherington Easing Into Captaincy, Leading Resurgent Texas Stars

CEDAR PARK, Texas -- Often times, being named captain of an American Hockey League team can be a death sentence to a player’s pro career. Instead, Texas Stars defenseman Dillon Heatherington is taking it in stride.

The first-year captain of a resurgent Stars club has been the focal point of a developing defensive core, leading a young team back into a postseason race and improving his personal game with the AHL affiliate of the National Hockey League’s Dallas Stars.

“In my pro career, I’ve had some excellent captains, and I’ve learned a lot from them, so I want to implement that to our team and bring that to our young guys this year, Heatherington told Inside AHL Hockey after Texas’ 3-2 win over the Manitoba Moose on Friday night. “It’s important to grow positive vibes with the team and to have a relationship with every guy in the locker room.”

Acquired from the Columbus Blue Jackets at the trade deadline in 2017, the Calgary, Alberta native is not only a veteran of the AHL circuit, but one of the Stars organization. 153 of his 279 AHL games have come with the Texas Stars after joining the club late into the 2016-17 campaign. The sturdy, minute-crunching blueliner has appeared in 12 NHL contests (11 regular season games, one postseason game), all with Dallas.

He is trusted by the Texas Stars coaching staff to play tough and frequent minutes every night, and he not only accepts it, but embraces the role.“The way that I play, a hard, physical game, where I try not to take so many shortcuts, I think a lot of guys respect that and respond to it, Heatherington said.

“Heatherington and [defense partner Joel] Hanley log a lot of minutes for us,” Stars head coach Neil Graham, recently appointed from assistant coach to his position after the promotion of Derek Laxdal to Dallas, said on Friday. “They’re very steady, very reliable, and when they’re on their game, it seems like the rest of us are on as well.”

Heatherington has tallied six assists in 25 games with Texas this season, while still looking for his first goal. Thanks in part to contributions by the captain, both on and off the ice, the Stars have won eight of their last ten games, and before their Saturday loss to the league-best Tucson Roadrunners, five straight contests.

A club that was dead in the water after a 12-game losing streak that spanned nearly an entire month, Texas has miraculously rebounded to a position only three points out of the Central Division’s fourth and final postseason-qualification spot, owned right now by the San Antonio Rampage.

“When you go through the down times and the losing streaks, or stuff like our head coach being promoted up, everything gets shaken around,” he said. “As players, you just come together and build off of hard times like that.”

Heatherington noted that his personal game has improved since being named the sixth captain of the Texas Stars before the beginning of the 2019-20. “It’s growing a lot. You know, I’ve been looking after a lot of younger guys a lot more and trying to be more vocal on the ice to help them out and find their positions,” the defenseman said. “I’m more aware of what’s going on in the dressing room and what’s happening with everyone on the ice.

“To be a great leader and lead this team to the playoffs is my goal,” Heatherington says. “But we’re just trying to take it one day at a time. We’ve been through so many tough times that we’re not taking anything for granted.”