After Harley signing, the Stars continue to build for long-term success

The Dallas Stars locked up another piece of the future for the long-term, as it was announced on Tuesday that they had agreed to a contract extension with defenseman Thomas Harley for eight years at a $10,587,500 cap hit. Harley has developed into a key piece on their blueline, and made waves last season for his performance with Team Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off.

Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton talked about Harley’s new contract and how the Stars have locked up a lot of their core for the future on Daily Faceoff Live.

Tyler Yaremchuk: The core that Dallas has locked up is really, really impressive. Miro Heiskanen’s got three more seasons left, Esa Lindell long term, now you got Harley. So the cornerstone pieces of that blue line are locked up. And up front, it’s Rantanen, it’s Wyatt Johnson, it’s Roope Hintz all under contract. Oettinger has a long-term deal here.

So again, they add Harley to this mix and a team in Dallas that should very easily continue to be a cup contender for the next eight seasons now, they’ve got a lot of big, big names locked up.

Carter Hutton: One thing for me with this lineup is when you look at that back end, you look at Lindell, Heiskanen, Harley and then obviously Oettinger in net. That is a staple core to build around from the net out. And that’s something that’s so important in a star-studded Central Division. You’re kind of always going to be in the mix when you can have a shutdown D-pair.

When I look at Harley, I think the growth that he got last year being thrown into the 4 Nations [Face-Off] was so huge for him, for experience, for confidence. He wasn’t in the mix, injuries happen, he gets thrown into the ringer and he performed very well. He was a big difference maker, arguably one of Canada’s best defensemen on the biggest stage in a short-term tournament, which was a confidence boost for a player like that. You’re a guy that has a lot of upside, then all of a sudden you get thrust into this international spotlight and you succeed, and then you take a step back to the NHL where confidence and everything that was with that is so important.

So this is a huge signing and again, is Jim Nill not a master in contracts? It feels like the Dallas Stars are continually good and it looks like they’re going to be good for a long time. And I think Jim Nill needs a lot of credit in this situation, because he’s done such a great job with this organization.

You can watch the full episode here…