The Dallas Stars have locked up their man.
With the regular season just days away, the Stars saved their biggest piece of off-season business for the last possible moment, finally agreeing to terms with forward Jason Robertson on a four-year contract extension worth an average annual value of $7.75 million.
The deal, which ties Robertson to Dallas through the 2025-26 season, will ensure that Robertson will remain a restricted free agent upon expiry and keep his rights with the Stars through his most productive years.
The 22-year-old is an incredible young talent who has simply done nothing but score since bursting onto the scene in 2021, finishing last season on an absolute tear with 41 goals and 38 assists for 79 points in 74 games – all while being surrounded by basically no high-end talent.
Robertson is the hockey equivalent of a “walking bucket” in basketball. All the kid does is put pucks in the net. And for a smidge under $800,000 in salary last season, he did it at an absurdly low rate.
That has now changed – but not by much, in the grand scheme of things.
To have Robertson under contract through his age-26 season for less than $8 million per year is tremendous value. That he will remain an RFA is just the cherry on top of this delicious sundae, as Robertson will likely only continue to evolve as an offensive force over the coming years. On the open market, this is a player who could have commanded at least $1.5- to 2 million more than he ultimately took. And for a Stars team that isn’t exactly blowing the doors off the hockey world offensively, knowing that Robertson will be anchoring the forward corps at a discount rate for the next half-decade is quite the luxury.
