Thomas Harley RISING Fast: Top 20 NHL D-Men Right Now! | Jere Lehtinen’s Legacy & NEW Stars TV Deal!
We’ve got the NHL Network top 20 defenseman list locked and loaded. And yes, Miro Hastinan and Thomas Harley are in the mix. We’re also going to take a trip down memory lane and revisit Yari Leton’s Sulky Trophies, plus more ways to watch the Dallas Stars next season. Your Locked On Stars, your daily podcast on the Dallas Stars, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. Howdy Stars fans. I’m Joey Ericson, former producer 105 through the fan. Please be sure to subscribe. We are free and available wherever you get your podcast and on YouTube. And as always, thank you so much for making us a part of your day and making us your first listen. Welcome back to a Friday edition of Locked On Stars, part locked on podcast network, your team every single day. Today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase. We have a loaded show for you today to kick you off into the weekend. We’re going to discuss the NHL Network’s top 20 defenseman list. And I’ve been talking about it for the last month or really last year that Thomas Harley is a top 15 NHL defenseman. And yes, he came in the top 15. Find out where he landed and Miro Hayeskin. We’re going to take a trip down memory lane a bit too. Y Letin Silky trophies. I want to do a deep dive on that a bit. So stick around for that. And the Stars are teaming up with Fox 4 next season. So more ways for you to watch the Dallas Stars. And it’s easy enough already, but more ways for all you hockey fans out there to consume some Dallas Stars hockey. But let’s hop right in to the meat and potatoes of today’s show. The NHL Network’s top 20 defenseman list. Yes, we love to discuss these lists and I don’t have much to to gripe about in the rankings of NHL defenseman, but we’ll start where the Dallas Stars defenseman and blueliners come in. Thomas Harley and Meiro Hayeskin. And this is sort of a provocation. I feel like I’ve been shouting from the the rooftops for a while now that Thomas Harley has played himself into this top 20 defenseman conversation. And it seems that the NHL network agrees with me as well. Number 20, you have Brock Faber. Then you have Lane Hudson coming off an amazing rookie season with the Canadians. Uh Muel Sergachef, that was an interesting one. Devonte’s at 17. This is going to turn a lot of heads and I think upset a lot of people, but Adam Fox number 16. I I’m curious where he was last season for whatever reason. I I think he may have been in the the top five. Maybe I’m off on that, but Adam Fox at at 16, and I’m not the biggest Adam Fox fan, but that that seems a bit low. But then you have Shade Theodore at 15. And then boom, Thomas Harley comes in at number 14 after being unranked last season. He turned a lot of heads in 2024 25. And now he solidified himself as number 14. And I think you could bump him up at least a spot. You have Sanderson there at 13. He’s a really good player. I watched him in college at North Dakota. Took a really big step this last year with Ottawa. You have Gustaf Forsley number 12. Makavoy 11 to round out the first 10 of this top 20 defenseman right now rankings. But Thomas Harley at number 14. And that is a big revelation for the stars. Now they have two, which I think it’s safe to say maybe not elite, maybe Harley’s not ready to be in that elite conversation, but great defenseman at at number 14. And you could maybe look at some analytics and other things that could start to turn you in the direction of elite. When it comes to scoring some big-time goals, it feels like he’s elite. uh the overtime winners he scored over the last few seasons. He took a big jump because he had to take over the reigns for Mero Hasten when he went down with an injury for over three months last year. Harley really grew into himself and the strides he’s made are remarkable. Just just think back in the 2022 season, the end of of that year, he just got brought up for a sixgame stint and just had a bit of a cup of coffee. obviously had a a great postseason a couple years ago, sort of solidify his spot on the roster and then just boom, the last two years, remarkable strides, and now he’s in this conversation and there’s talk uh that it looks like he’s solidified maybe even a spot on team Canada, wearing my team USA shirt here on today’s episode, but there’s talk that he’s going to be on the Canadian Olympic team in Italy um in the the coming uh year as well. So that is big big time news for for Harley and and nice to see him getting some some recognition and I I think a fair fair spot. Mer Hasten and look we talk about all the time I think he’s at least in the top three of NHL defenseman. If you just look at allound offense, defense, transition, penalty kill, uh, power play, I I think he’s comfortably in in the top three. He seems to always be edged out by a couple though. And Kale Marquin, who’s they’re going to be there and they deserve to be there. Kale Mar a generational uh, defenseman. Had another really, really strong season. He got sent home early by the Dallas Stars once again. Yes, I’m still salty, but uh, who cares? Zach Rowinsky, he finds himself at number three. Had an amazing amazing year with Columbus. I know a lot of people thought he deserved to even win the Norris. Columbus was an excellent excellent team. Excellent story and they fell short of making the postseason. If they make the playoffs, maybe Rinsky does get that nod and was maybe in conversations even for heart trophy just after what they went through. Of course, in the offseason, he had a big big year. But then we got Mero Hastin right there at number four. That’s that’s great to see. Would love to see him crack into the top three. And and what’s missing? We we talked about it last year. I It’s the offense. Can he put up 70 points? Can he put up 65 points? North of 65. He’s going to jump into that top three conversation easily. You have to bring the offensive part of your game to make these lists. And at the end of the day, we’re not really worried about this. The Stars are worried about making the the Stanley Cup, making the Stanley Cup final, winning the the Stanley Cup. But if he does want to elevate his ranking or at least win an ORS, he’s got to bring some offense with him. And we’ve touched on it, that’s not his his main goal. That’s never going to be his forte. I’m not going to try to turn him into something he is not. But we we all know what an amazing amazing defender he is and how special of a talent he is that we get to watch him on a nightly basis. We probably take it for granted as Stars fans. And I just I hope one day he gets the recognition, right? And I I know we sort of scoff at some of these awards these days, especially the Norris and how it’s given out, but it also affects the legacy of these players. And that’s why I think it’s so important that Meera wins one of those darn things eventually because let’s face it, it matters in legacy matters in making Hall of Fame um and and things of that nature, all stars and all that uh jazz. It’s important and I would like to see Miro win one of those darn things and and start to be a regular finalist. If this was 15 years ago, he’d probably be more in the conversation. But with how the the award is sort of given out, it’s just tough. But this is all to say uh the stars are in great hands. They got two now. NHL Network agrees top 15 defenseman. By the way, the uh defenseman behind me for those of you curious. Victor Hedman five, Josh Morsy six. Rasmus Dalan seven, which I think is a bit low. I think you can move him up to to number five. Jacob Slavven eight. Roman Yosi still in the mix at nine. Evan Buchard at 10, which may be a bit low as well. Uh I’m coming around on Buchard a bit. I was not a big fan of his. I didn’t really think he was that great a couple years ago to to be fair to be honest. I I was certainly wrong watching him the last couple years of course just dismantle the stars. He’s a good player. Um he does a lot of a lot of good things for for Edmonton and deserves to to be in that conversation of of elite defenseman. But this is a great news for the Stars. I mentioned I was uh really anxiously awaiting this ranking in particular uh be because I I wanted to see where Harley was going to fall. And then boom, Harley comes in at 14, Miro at number four to round out your top 20 NHL defenseman list. Now, something new I I want to do here in the next segment that I’ve thought about for a bit. I’m curious if you’ll like it. I’ll describe it a bit more in detail in just a moment as we take a deeper dive and look at Yuri Leton’s Silky Trophies. Today’s episode of Locked on Stars is brought to you by Game Time. We’ve all been there. Logging on early and waiting forever for concert tickets to go on sale only to lose your spot for a show you’ve been dying to see. Live music should be about making memories, not dealing with the stress of ticket shopping. That’s where Game Time comes in. Game time makes getting concert tickets faster and easier than ever. Prices actually drop as it gets closer to Showtime. And you can save up to 60% off with their killer lastminute deals. Tired of endless scrolling trying to find the best deal? Game times zone deals pick the best seats for you in a section for you and you can see the view from your seat before you buy it. You get a panoramic seat view so there are no surprises. Take the guesswork out of buying concert tickets with game time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, use the code lockn for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply again. Create an account redeem code LLC own for $20 off. Download the Game Time app today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. So, every once in a while, I enjoy listening to deep dives on certain topics, whether it’s history or or sports on uh a numerous amount of podcast. And I wanted to do something similar to to that here. And maybe something we do a bit more regularly, sort of a a Dallas Stars this day in history segment. And I wanted to start with uh a mini dive on Yuri Letin and his Selki trophies um and really the the award itself because it’s rather interesting and maybe you’ll learn some things uh along the way or maybe you you know this stuff right off the the top of your head. But I I enjoyed going in uh a bit deeper looking at some some more details and you’re letting him was one of my favorite alltime players. Also, I want to learn more about some stars uh players before my time. I got to watch Yerry Letin towards the tail end uh of of his career, but there’s a lot of stuff I don’t know about about certain players, and maybe I’ll pick one and and just discuss them a bit further. But I want to talk about Yuri Leter games, 243 goals, 514 points. He was drafted by Minnesota fourth round 88th overall in the 1992 NHL draft out of Espo Finland of course and his two-way play was immediately a standout 14 NHL seasons. Yes, he played all with the Dallas Stars and I I looked at the the the Selki Trophy and some of his his victories. So he was a finalist for the Selki Trophy uh five times. Uh 1996 uh 97 was the first time he became a finalist. He finished third that season. 1997 uh 1998 season and then you had 2001 and then 2002. Those were the five seasons he finished um as a finalist for the Selki Trophy. Um something that I thought was really curious. So, the Selki Trophy has been given out 47 times in its history for the league’s uh best two-way forward, right? Uh plays some great offense, but also really responsible on the back end. Only nine times has a winger won this award. Only nine times. And I believe if my math is correct, the last 21 years, it could be more, but I believe it’s 21 years a Trophy. They have dominated the Selki trophy. Barov of course has won the last two years with the Florida Panthers, but only nine times out of the 47 has a winger won the position and only two players, two individual players have won it as a right-winger. That is Yuri Leton and uh that is uh it was Dick Graham in 1999 with the Chicago Blackhawks. Um left-wingers include Craig Ramsay and Bob Gayy. Those are only the two left-wingers that have uh won the Selki trophy. And Gainy won it in its inception and won it uh back to backto backto back four straight years. That is the most consecutive amount of Selky Trophy wins for an individual player. Bob Gayy from 1977 to 1981. He dominated this. There’s also only been including Gainy just three players to to win it. Uh or I should say, yeah, three players to to win it. um or I think two players to win it three years in a row. Excuse me. That’s where I was going there with that. Pavl Dosuk has won it uh three years in a row from 07 to 10. Obviously an amazing player with the Red Wings. And then you have of course Bob Gayy again. So one of two players has won it three times in a row. There’s been multiple back-to-back winners. Rob Brendmore, Patrice Berseron, who of course has won the most silky trophies in its history, six, has never won it three in a row. However, he uh of course had to deal with a lot of good players. You had Copitar was always in the mix. Of course, Barkov towards the latter half of his career. Uh but he won it uh twice a couple of times back to back, but he never won it three years in a row. But to regain this conversation or to revert it back to Yuri Letin. So he finished as a finalist in 1996 97. He finished third behind Michael Pekka and Peter Forsber. Then in 9798, Letin was one of those players that won it back to back. In the 9798 season was his first Selky Trophy win, defeating Michael Pekka and Craig Conroy. 199899, he backed it up again. This time he beat Magnus Arvdson from the Ottawa Centers, Michael Pekka from the Buffalo Sabres. You’ll hear his name quite a bit um throughout these years. His third and final Silky Trophy came in 20020. Um he beat out John Madden and Wes Walls. Madden with the Devils and Walls with the Minnesota Wild. So he was a finalist five times and he won it three times. And three times is nothing to scoff at as well. He’s tied for the third most silky trophy wins by an individual player with Dotsuk and Carbono and Barkov. Now they’ve all won three. So Yerry Lutton has put himself in in a conversation with some of the the greats of uh of the game and he doesn’t have some of the the larger numerical numbers that uh would get him in or make you a lock for the NHL Hall of Fame, which is uh uh unfortunate. He uh really is sorted the hollow very good. Uh he had uh more than 20 goals in a season seven different times, scored over 30 goals in a season twice. Um and of course uh always sacrificed his offense for the the betterment of uh his defense and the betterment of the the Dallas Stars as well. And he benefited from that. He won a a Stanley Cup um as well. But uh it was rather intriguing to just go through look at some of the the Selki Trophy history and winning back-to-back times is nothing to scoff at. Um his his bid for three straight would have been denied by Pekka 9697 where he was a finalist in 99 2000. He was not a finalist. uh Steve Eisermanman uh won the award and that but since since 200203 Letin’s the last winger to win the Selki trophy. Can you believe that? The last winger. It’s been all center icemen um since then. And as I said, nine out of 47 winners have played wing either left or right. So, if you’re a winger, you have a lot of ground to make up to to prove yourself to to um uh to to win this award. And going through it as well, I think I only found one year where it was all wingers that were finalists. Uh let me go back and see if I I can find that. I think it was all three finalists were wingers, and it’s this year right here, 9091. uh Dick Graham who won it as a as a right-wing. Then you had uh Essa Tikkin and then Steve Lamar or Lmer I may be butchering that with the Blackhawks. So the Blackhawks had two finalists. That’s something there. Um and going through that I think that’s that’s the only year okay minus the first two years as well. So, I was a bit wrong, but uh so the first two years when Bob Gayy won both uh he had a couple of pairs of of wings with him as well, but now it’s a center dominated um award and uh Yuri Leton um won it three times and that’s nothing to to scoff at. Um as well, finalist five different times, put up some some really strong numbers. Maybe doesn’t have the cumulative uh cumulative amount of numbers that you would like. um to to win uh or to to maybe turn some heads for the Hall of Fame, but um had some strong postseason numbers as well, but nothing crazy, of course, and I think that almost is on brand for for who Yuri Leton was. 49 points. Um he had 27 goals in 108 games played. Uh that plus minus was a two uh right there. Not too bad. A positive two. He only had 12 penalty minutes. Um but um in 198 uh 199899 of course when the Stars won the Stanley Cup, how about this? Um a team high 23 games played, eight even strength goals. Uh that was a team high. That was a league high. Um so that tells you I I really didn’t even realize this. Joe Newandike um again this is where I kind of wanted to do this surprise me. Joe Newondike won the K smite. Maybe Bellfor of course would have been in that conversation for what he did. Let’s let’s not overlook Yuri Lutin. He scored 10 goals in that playoff run in the 23 games to win this. He scored 10 goals. Um eight of those are even strength which which led the league. Um that that’s that’s tremendous stuff from from Yuri Leton. So I wanted to praise him, show him some love because he deserves it. He’s uh one of my all-time favorite favorite Dallas stars. He was my my favorite Dallas star uh growing up. He was he was the first uh and and the player I always tried to to model the game after. And there’s a reason I’m doing this podcast and not uh playing the the game of of hockey. But uh yeah, wanted to to show some love that way. Um and maybe you learned a thing or two. And this is sort of the reason why I want to do these little deep dive uh segments for those of you on Locked on Stars. Um especially during these days when it’s a bit light on news, we have some good stuff. But there you go. Maybe you liked it. Maybe you didn’t. Let me know in the comments below. All righty, the Stars. Some more news. Victory Plus. The Stars are actually teaming up with a local TV channel to bring you some more Dallas Stars games next season, which is great, great news. I’ll tell you more about the deal in just a moment. Today’s episode of Locked on Stars is brought to you by FanDuel. August 26th is the official FanDuel Futures Day. A brand new holiday for football fans who live for bold predictions and pre-season hunches. For just 24 hours, FanDuel is giving you deals on NFL season predictions. So whether you’re calling your MVP, enjoying a launch division winner or ready to crown your Super Bowl champ before week one even kicks off, this is your moment. You can take a flyer on the MVP race. Crown your champion in August or parlay your division winner with Dark Horses. Hockey season and football season are right around the corner. So get ready for FanDuel Futures Day on August 26th. Visit the FanDuel app today. Start planning your futures bets now because futures day is one day and one day only. FanDuel, play your game. So this was announced yesterday on uh Thursday, August 14th. Victory Plus and KDFW, Fox 4 and KDFI. More 27 are going to expand their partnership to deliver more Dallas Stars action for the 2025 26 season. Says here, “Victory Plus is excited to announce a new broadcast partnership with KDFW Fox4 and KDFI More 27, bringing more Dallas Stars action to local TV viewers for the uh 202526 season. the arrangement will see a total of 17 Dallas Stars NHL games, including 15 regular season games and two preseason matchups. So, uh, remember that as well, Stars fans, because we’ve always had issues in years past, except for last year, we we were able to actually watch some preseason games. I think they televised all of them. I I could be mistaken. It wasn’t always the best format. Um, but they were toying with it and it was just nice to to see them broadcasting some of those preseason matchups. So, two preseason matchups on local stations. KDFW Fox 4 will air nine games. KDFI Moore 27 will air eight games with exact matchups and dates to be confirmed. Um, says here, uh, here’s a quote. More access to more fans is at the core of what Victory Plus offers. And we’re thrilled to expand our relationship with Fox 4 and KDFI to offer 17 Dallas Stars games to the local community, said Neil Grunger, uh Gruninger, president and CEO of APMC, the parent company of Victory Plus. This collaboration helps bring the excitement of Stars hockey into fans homes, and we’re proud to offer this as we continue to grow and engage with our audience. And of course, the Stars had a lot of success with a victory plus. Um it was a big hit offering Stars games for free last season. A bit of a risk, but uh I think it was something they hit out of the park. They did an excellent job, which is not too surprising. They have a great crew. Broadcasting number one, obviously a very talented and a great crew um in the trucks that are running behind the scenes um and and doing all that. uh technical uh technical issues, technical parts of of the biz, of course, and did a phenomenal job. And this is just more easy ways for maybe even casual fans that are just scrolling on whatever cable they’re using, cable product. There’s, I don’t know, hundreds of them now. whatever streaming service you may be using, you can scroll by, maybe see Stars game, um, and allow more casual fans to maybe get their eyeballs on the game, like Stars fans, diehard Stars fans. I’m sure many of you that listen to this podcast, including myself, we’re going to watch the games either way, no matter what they’re on, even if we had to pay. Uh, but this allows the game, or at least allows Stars, uh, Stars organizations, Stars in general, just to to get some more eyeballs on them. I think that’s going to be great. And um the more accessible it is to watch the better. I mean, talk about some of the issues uh just in in baseball. Uh remember the Rangers could they went to victory plus um in blackouts. Like if you make it tough to watch games, no one’s no one’s going to take the effort to do it. I don’t want to sign up for two things and go through a bunch of loops just to to watch a game. Um especially somebody that maybe not be into sports as much as I am and more of a casual fan. You don’t want to have to do a subscription and and all that stuff. Uh I just want to be able to to go to whatever site or streaming device you like to use. Boom. And then oh, it’s on channel 4 tonight and then you can watch the game and you don’t have to worry. That’s um good stuff. So good on the stars um and good on some of the local networks that they feel it’s worth it enough to to carry these games 17 games for for next season. So it’ll be curious to just see what the kind of numbers are like too, some of the feedback. um that the the Stars get and overall numbers on um on certain game days for for next season. We’ll have to keep an eye on that um in 2526. But wanted to share some of that information uh for those of you out there um as well that um are taking in Locked on Stars on this Friday, kicking you off into your weekend. Always want to thank you for the love and support on today’s episode. That’s going to wrap up today’s show back in Corpus Christi as I mentioned last week or so. We’re just over a month away from starting our season, which is uh very exciting. September 19th, so uh we’re we’re kind of hitting the ground running. A lot of good momentum here in South Texas. Um and really really excited for for that season to start. Uh, just a heads up. Um, last year I know it was sort of wonky with my my schedule. Our our schedule for games with the ice was so crazy last year. It it became it became tough some nights just to be able to to do some episodes right after games um, and get them out in a timely fashion. I’ll say this, my weekend’s going to be covered, of course, but it’s a much softer schedule that I think it’ll allow me to be much more on top of um much more on top of a regular schedule than it maybe was a little bit last year. Did my best to adhere to it, but this season, I think a lot more time, the the management of of being able to to get out things uh timely is going to be a lot better. So, I am looking forward to to that. just looking forward to the the hockey season in general at the Stars or the ice race. So, enough rambling for me. Please be sure to subscribe. Uh drop a comment below. Let me know if you like the deep dive segment or anything of that nature. You’d like me to do a little bit more for that. Um I I really really enjoyed it there. And uh we’ll uh continue to pump out some more stuff for you. Training camp and all that good stuff is right around the corner. Have a great rest of your weekend, Stars fans. We’ll see you next Monday. So long.
On today’s episode of Locked On Stars, Joey Erickson reacts to the NHL Network’s top 20 defenseman list, takes a trip down memory lane on Jere Lehtinen’s Selke Trophy’s and a new tv deal with Fox 4 and the Dallas Stars. Miro Heiskanen and Thomas Harley find their way on to the top 20 NHL Defenseman right now list and Joey is pumped up for Harley and what this means for the Stars. In the following segment, Joey looks back at Jere Lehtinen’s career and how impressive it was while providing some nuggets on the history of the Selke Trophy as well. Joey finishes the show sharing the newest tv deal between local DFW channels and the Dallas Stars bringing more hockey to the viewer next season.
Follow Joey on Twitter: twitter.com/joeythejet19
Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…
🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOStars?sid=YouTube
Locked On NHL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Prospects & More
🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNHL
Follow the show on Twitter: https://twitter.com/LockedOnStars
Follow the show on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lockedonstars/
#NHL #DallasStars #hockey
Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!
Gametime
Today’s episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.
Monarch Money
Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNHL at monarchmoney.com/lockedonnhl for 50% off your first year.
FanDuel
Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Football season is around the corner, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now.
Indeed
Now, you can speed up your hiring process with a $75 Sponsored Job Credit. Just go to Indeed.com/LOCKEDON right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply.
FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)