Robertson Has Incentive To Sign Long-Term With Dallas Stars

The Dallas Stars are barely under the salary cap after maneuvering this offseason and some bigger losses, but they are in no better position next offseason to sign certain players as the team has six, albeit important, players under contract for over $8 million AAV. The only one that makes sense to get rid of, if they can while saving significant money, is Tyler Seguin.

The makeup of the Stars is very good, going to three consecutive conference finals, but they have to keep the core of their team together. That means Jason Robertson has to stick around and his contract ($7.75 million AAV) is over at the end of the season. If that was the only contract that the Stars had to worry about, it would be more manageable, but Thomas Harley, Mavrik Bourque, Nils Lundkvist, and Jamie Benn will all need new contracts as well. Benn is the only UFA of the bunch.

According to Jeff Marek, "the other thing that Robertson I think is probably weighing here...this is the last (year) you can sign an eight-year deal. These are all the things that are in play right now."

Robertson's name has been out there in trade rumors quite a bit, mainly because of the salary cap crunch, but there isn't exactly a rush to re-sign unless he is looking for that eighth year on his deal that will be eliminated for all future contracts soon. Since it makes little sense for the Stars to trade away a top line star who just produced 35 goals and 80 points during the regular season and is a two-time 40-goal scorer as well as a 100-point player.

It likely won't come before or during the season, but the Stars will be hard at work immediately after the 2025-26 season ends to get Tyler Seguin's contract moved out and Robertson locked up for eight years. Seguin will have one year left on his deal, but the no-move clause makes things difficult. The result will probably end with him being bought out of the final year of his deal to save any sort of money. The depth is going to suffer with the top players all eating good to be kept around.

Robertson will join the six other players on the team with an AAV over $8 million, especially if he signs for eight years while in his prime at 26 years old.