Whether they are able to land a No. 1 center this offseason, the expectation is that the Minnesota Wild are still going to be one of the favorites to make the Stanley Cup out of the Central Division. Another one of those teams are the Dallas Stars, who didn't do much this offseason either, besides trading away Mavrik Bourque to the Nashville Predators due to them not having enough cap space to sign him to a contract extension. That's because they also had to retain top winger Jason Robertson.
The Robertson saga had been all over the place, with both he and the Stars unable to reach an agreement on a long-term contract extension, and by turning down trades to the St. Louis Blues and Seattle Kraken. Ultimately, before an arbitration hearing set for July 25, the Stars and Robertson agreed to terms on a one-year, $12 million deal. That means he'll be a free agent at the end of the upcoming season. Wild fans will like that, since the Stars will be a weaker team if Robertson is off of it.
While speaking with reporters on Wednesday, Stars general manager Jim Nill said that it was clear to him that he wanted to be with the Stars. Additionally, Nill said that their goal is for Robertson to be with the team for the majority of his career and they plan on signing him to an extension.
“That’s our plan. Yes,” Nill said, h/t TSN. “And like I said, a lot of things happen, but that that is our plan. We discussed that.”
Stars GM's Jason Robertson hopes may not become reality, which would be welcome news for Wild
While Wild fans will certainly be hoping that the Stars lose out on Robertson, an extension does become more feasible after this upcoming season. The Stars are projected to have over $41 million in cap space entering next offseason according to PuckPedia, a lot of that is due to Tyler Seguin's contract coming off of the books. That makes it easier for the Stars to retain Robertson, but that's if he wants to stay.
Let's not forget that the price tag for some of the top young players in the game is increasing. Anaheim Ducks center Leo Carlsson is getting paid $18 million per year, making him the highest-paid player in the league. Wild winger Kirill Kaprizov previously set the price tag for forwards and wingers by earning $17 million per year on his new contract, that kicks in this upcoming season. Connor Bedard earned a five-year, $75 million contract extension from the Chicago Blackhawks.
While the salary cap is rising, so is the price tag for younger players. Who's to say that Robertson's contract demands won't? Robertson already turned down an eight-year, $15 million a year contract offer in a potential sign-and-trade with the Kraken.
Not to mention, we'll have to see how the upcoming season goes for the Stars. Sure, they are still loaded with talent, but would another early playoff exit next year, possibly at the hands of the Wild, get Robertson to change his mind and explore free agency? What if things go poorly enough that Robertson gets floated at the trade deadline? That would make things interesting for sure.
While the Stars and Nill hope that they can retain Robertson for the foreseeable future, it may not be a given that that becomes reality, which would be good news for the Wild.
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