Dallas Stars News & Rumors

Navigating the salary cap is one of the most important tasks for a front office.  Teams that can avoid total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful.  Those who don’t often see struggles and front office changes.

PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation for the 2025-26 season.  This will focus more on players who are regulars on the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL.  All cap figures are courtesy of PuckPedia.  We’re currently covering the Central Division, next up are the Stars.

Dallas Stars

Current Cap Hit: $95,094,916 (below the $95.5MM Upper Limit)

Entry-Level Contracts

D Lian Bichsel (two years, $918K)

Potential Bonuses
Bichsel: $500K

Bichsel split time between Dallas and AHL Texas last season before being a regular for them in the playoffs, albeit with limited playing time.  He should crack the roster on a full-time basis this year but still in a third-pairing role, which doesn’t bode well for reaching his bonuses.  Given their longer-term cap situation which we’ll get into as we go along, it would be surprising if his next deal isn’t a short-term bridge contract, likely around the $2MM range.

Signed Through 2025-26, Non-Entry-Level

F Nathan Bastian ($775K, UFA)
F Jamie Benn ($1MM, UFA)
F Mavrik Bourque ($950K, RFA)
D Thomas Harley ($4MM, RFA)
D Nils Lundkvist ($1.25MM, UFA)
D Alexander Petrovic ($775K, UFA)
F Jason Robertson ($7.75MM, RFA)

Potential Bonuses
Benn: $3MM

Robertson’s situation has garnered plenty of attention with his name coming up in trade speculation.  He’s averaging over a point per game for his career and has notched at least 79 points in four straight seasons.  That’s top-line numbers and he’ll be looking for top-line money next summer which should push his cap charge well past the $10MM mark.  Notably, his qualifying offer is $9.3MM with salary arbitration rights.  Benn re-signed this bonus-laden deal to allow Dallas to keep cap-compliant this season, one that is team-friendly even with the bonuses.  $2MM of that is games-played based while the other $1MM is based on team playoff success.  If he wants to remain with the Stars beyond this season, it’s probably going to be on a similarly structured agreement.

Bourque was a speculative offer sheet candidate this summer but agreed to this deal before the draft to take that off the table.  Had he tested restricted free agency, he’d have landed more than this but the one-year term sets him up for arbitration eligibility and a shot to triple this or more next summer if all goes well.  Bastian was a recent signing from the Devils and has been a physical fourth liner throughout his career but his offensive production has largely been limited.  That should keep him around the minimum salary barring a big jump in output.

While Robertson’s case has garnered the majority of the attention for next year’s free agency, Harley’s is arguably just as significant.  He showed last season that his 2023-24 breakout effort was no fluke, taking on an even bigger role and being just as productive.  He is now a legitimate top-pairing player.  As a result, this could be a situation where his pay increase next summer is higher than what Robertson’s is going to be.  Noah Dobson’s eight-year, $9.5MM AAV contract signed this summer looms large as a viable comparable while ticking past $10MM per season is a real possibility as well.  Notably, he’s not UFA-eligible until 2029 so one option that could be considered is another two-year bridge deal more in the $7MM range which could allow their reported desire to work within an internal cap to happen.  That would buy them a bit of short-term flexibility at a time when cap space is going to be tight so GM while Jim Nill likely doesn’t prefer to go that way, he might have to.

Lundkvist looked to be heading toward a non-tender to duck arbitration rights for the second straight year before signing this contract for the same amount he made last season.  Between some struggles and injuries, 2024-25 was largely a write-off so he’s getting near the point of either needing to take that step forward or understanding that he might not be more than the depth player he currently is.  Petrovic spent most of last season in the minors before playing in most of the playoffs in Dallas which should give him a leg up for a full-time spot to start this year.  Even so, his track record has only been that of a depth defender thus far and at 33, that’s unlikely to change.  He should stay around the minimum salary moving forward although a full year in the NHL could flip his next deal to a one-way pact.

Signed Through 2026-27

F Oskar Back ($825K, UFA)
F Colin Blackwell ($775K, UFA)
G Casey DeSmith ($1MM, UFA)
D Ilya Lyubushkin ($3.25MM, UFA)
F Tyler Seguin ($9.85MM, UFA)
F Sam Steel ($2.1MM, UFA)

A hip issue sidelined Seguin for most of last season although he was a little over a point per game in his limited action.  However, he has generally been more in the 50-point range in recent years and this price tag for that type of production isn’t great.  He’ll be 35 when his next deal starts and while a multi-year pact should still be doable then, it’s going to come with a multi-million-dollar drop in AAV.  Steel inked this deal back before the trade deadline in the midst of his fourth straight season with at least 20 points.  Between that and his ability to kill penalties, he should be able to provide decent value on this contract but unless his point production starts to go up, he might not be able to go too much higher than this.

Back had a decent rookie year, getting into 73 games while holding his own in a bottom-six role to secure this deal at a rate that will be below the minimum salary next season.  Assuming he remains a regular in this type of role for them, this should work out just fine while Back should be able to push more into the $1.25MM range on his next deal.  Blackwell fit in nicely in a depth role last season, earning this new contract along the way.  While he had a couple of years in the past with a seven-figure salary, he’s someone who should be staying around the minimum salary on any future contracts.

Lyubushkin was brought in to bring some physicality to the back and stabilize the bottom pairing.  He was able to do that for the most part although this contract is on the higher side for that type of role which led to some speculation about his future when they needed to open up cap space.  It would be surprising to see him beat this by any significant amount two years from now but another contract in this price range might be doable.

DeSmith is certainly at the lower end of the salary scale for backup goalies as he opted for stability and a winning environment over trying to get the highest price tag.  He certainly had a solid first year with numbers that should have him toward the higher end of the backup scale (more in the $3.5MM territory).  He’ll be 36 when this deal expires so it’s unlikely that he’ll find a contract in that range but value-wise, he should double this if he looks for top dollar next time out.

Signed Through 2027-28

F Radek Faksa ($2MM, UFA)

Faksa returns after a one-year stint in St. Louis after Dallas needed to clear his contract last summer.  While he showed some offensive upside early in his career, he has settled into more of a pure checking role in recent seasons.  Between his penalty killing utility and his faceoff skills, he should be able to provide a good return on this contract, even with the points remaining hard to come by.  But unless his production improves, he likely won’t command much more than this moving forward.

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