Harley has emerged as Dallas’ No. 2 defenseman, however he’d be the No. 1 defenseman on most groups within the NHL.
He and fellow defenseman Miro Heiskanen give Dallas a baseline of 1 elite defenseman on the ice for greater than 40 minutes each evening when each are wholesome. It buys crucial insurance coverage few groups have — and that paid off for Dallas when Heiskanen was harm within the 2024-25 playoffs.
In accordance with PuckPedia, Dallas now has barely greater than $17.3M in cap house for subsequent season. The Stars have 9 forwards, 5 defenseman and two goaltenders below contract. At minimal, they’re going to seemingly need to signal 4 further forwards and two further defenseman. The query: Can the Stars fill out a roster and nonetheless give Jason Robertson a significant contract extension?
Jason Robertson’s efficiency in Dallas
The massive query is whether or not Dallas thinks Robertson is value his subsequent deal. It does not appear seemingly that he could be prepared to take lower than the eight-year, $12M greenback annual deal that Dallas gave fellow winger Mikko Rantanen final 12 months.
Robertson has been remarkably constant. He has one outlier season with 109 factors. In any other case, three of his final 4 seasons have included level totals of 79, 80 and 80. He is ninth amongst all forwards in five-on-five factors between 2022-23 and 2024-25. Robertson brings a giant 6-foot-3, 204 pound body that may play each near the web and in house.
Dallas’ cap scenario
The Stars in all probability want a minimum of $4M in reserve to fill out a roster, reserving greater than $13M for Robertson. That stated, it is not going Dallas would need to fill out 5 spots solely with veteran minimal contracts. It might do this with two, perhaps three, of the 5 spots. Assume Dallas would possibly need one thing nearer to $6M to make use of to fill out these 5 spots, which complicates an extension for Robertson.
The Stars do have contracts they will transfer, together with Wyatt Johnston ($8.4M), Ilya Lyubushkin ($3.25M), Sam Metal ($2.1M) and Radek Faksa ($2M). Realistically, Lyubushkin might be the participant Dallas could be most involved in shifting. He and Metal are each getting into the ultimate years of their contracts in 2026-27. It might make some sense to attempt to escape the deal.
Dallas can do it, nevertheless it’ll be tight
The fact is Dallas can in all probability signal Robertson if it desires. He is off to a point-per-game begin by way of his first 9 video games in 2025. One other 80-point season for Robertson does not seem to be a stretch on a Dallas group poised to make one other deep playoff run. The difficulty right here is alternative value. The Stars have not received a Stanley Cup with this group. Can they justify signing Robertson to the kind of extension that may make it tough to make in-season and low season enhancements elsewhere?
If the Stars provide Robertson the identical cap ceiling proportion they provided Rantanen, it could come out to round $13M per 12 months. With out subtracting one of many beforehand talked about contracts, that may make issues very tight for the Stars. They’d be operating the underside of their lineup virtually fully on veteran-minimum contracts simply to fill out the roster.
Ideally, Dallas might transfer Lyubushkin whereas convincing Robertson to stay as near $12M-$13M yearly as potential. If that does not occur, Robertson turns into the crown jewel of an in any other case vanilla expertise pool this offseason.
