With their salary cap situation making it hard for a long-term deal to be an option, the Stars unsurprisingly have opted for a bridge agreement with defenseman Thomas Harley. The team announced that they’ve inked the blueliner to a two-year, $8MM contract. GM Jim Nill released the following statement:
Thomas is one of the league’s top young defensemen. His performance last season was a testament to the way that he has worked on and off the ice to become a better player. We are looking forward to his continued growth and helping anchor our blueline for many years to come.
PuckPedia reports that the deal will pay Harley $3.5MM this season and $4.5MM in 2025-26. The latter number will represent his qualifying offer and he will also be arbitration-eligible at that time.
Harley’s performance last season was certainly worthy of the praise from his GM. The 23-year-old only has one full NHL season under his belt – 2023-24 – but it was a very strong one which saw him record 15 goals and 32 assists in 79 games while averaging just over 21 minutes a night. Harley was quieter offensively in the playoffs (four assists in 19 appearances) but still logged heavy minutes, averaging nearly 24 minutes per contest, second only to Miro Heiskanen. His goal total put him in a tie for eighth-most among all NHL rearguards.
While the 2019 first-round pick (18th overall) had a more limited track record compared to some more established young blueliners, Harley’s play last season could realistically have put a long-term agreement past $7MM per season on a max-term deal. But to give him that would have necessitated some cost-cutting now, something that Dallas as a win-now team wouldn’t have been looking to do.
This is the second notable contract of the day for the Stars’ back end with Esa Lindell inking a five-year extension earlier today. In getting these deals done, Dallas now has their top five defensemen signed through at least the 2025-26 season which will give them a bit of stability on that front.
With the move, the Stars now have their full team signed for the upcoming season. PuckPedia projects them to only have $694K in cap space but that’s with a full-sized roster. If Dallas is willing to carry fewer the maximum number of players and opts to continue the daily shuffling of waiver-exempt players (as they did frequently with Logan Stankoven last season, for example), then they should put themselves in a position to comfortably bank some in-season cap room, barring a rash of injuries, of course.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Not ideal. He’s gonna cost them 8++ in three years but that’s all they have left
But Dallas is gonna be really good when the big contracts disappear and their young core can get more support
This team is competitive for the next 5-6years