Stars sign Jason Robertson to one-year, $12 million contract
The Dallas Stars and Jason Robertson are finally seeing eye-to-eye.
After a contract negotiation which looked like it was going to need arbitration to end, the two parties have come to an agreement on a one-year, $12 million contract.
Robertson is a restricted free agent after the conclusion of his four-year contract with a $7.75 million contract. He was eligible for an arbitration hearing, which he had elected, with the hearing scheduled for Saturday, July 25th, so the two parties avoid the hearing by four days. His new contract makes him tied for the ninth-highest cap hit in the league, and is tied for the highest on the Stars along with Mikko Rantanen.
At this point in time, it’s not known if there are any signing bonuses that come with the deal. The new contract will walk Robertson to unrestricted free agency, although that shouldn’t be a significant red flag for the Stars, as that’s also when Tyler Seguin’s $9.85 million cap hit will be off the books, meaning the Stars can give Robertson a long-term contract closer to what he was looking for.
There was a point where Robertson’s future with the Stars seemed to be up in the air, as it wasn’t looking like the Stars were going to be able to fit the winger in their salary cap picture. But after Dallas made a deal which sent another RFA in Mavrik Bourque and Ilya Lyubushkin to the Nashville Predators, it freed up enough cap space for the Stars to retain Robertson.
Some teams had reportedly tried to acquire Robertson and sign him to a larger contract, most notably the Seattle Kraken with their rumoured $15 million offer, but Robertson turned down the contract offer. The St. Louis Blues also had an offer on the table for Robertson, but he also chose not to sign there. Even though he and the Stars were reportedly around $2 million apart in contract negotiations, it’s clear that Robertson wanted to stay in Dallas.
Robertson is coming off of his best seasons since his 109-point campaign in 2022-23, as he had 45 goals and 51 assists for 96 points in 82 games with the Stars this season. He also had his best playoff showing yet, as he had five goals and three assists for eight points in six games.
Dallas has had a quiet offseason, largely because their primary focus has been making their salary cap work to retain Robertson. The Stars are now $1,360,333 over the salary cap space according to PuckPedia, although they have no more restricted free agents left to re-sign.
