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Training Camp Cuts: 9/22/24

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Six teams got their preseason schedules underway last night. Many more are set to do so today. That means we’re still a couple of days away from a long list of roster cuts from around the league, but teams are still doing a little bit of maintenance to send lower-end prospects back to their junior teams as those seasons get underway.

As always, we’re keeping track of all of today’s training camp cuts. This piece will be updated throughout the day as more transactions come in.

Anaheim Ducks (per team announcement)

F Alexandre Blais (to QMJHL Rimouski)
F Thomas Desruisseaux (released from ATO to QMJHL Chicoutimi)
F Simon Lovsin (released from ATO to WHL Seattle)
F Maxim Masse (to QMJHL Chicoutimi)
G Michael McIvor (released from ATO to OHL North Bay)
D Vojtech Port (to WHL Moose Jaw)
F Ethan Procyszyn (to OHL North Bay)
D Tarin Smith (to WHL Everett)
D Loic Usereau (released from ATO to QMJHL Chicoutimi)
F Jaxsin Vaughan (released from ATO to WHL Regina)

Columbus Blue Jackets (per team announcement)

F Pano Fimis (released from ATO to OHL Erie)
G Nolan Lolande (to OHL Kingston)
D Luca Marrelli (to OHL Oshawa)
G Jacob Oster (released from ATO to OHL Oshawa)

Dallas Stars (per team announcement)

F Gabriel Frasca (released from ATO to OHL Erie)
F Brad Gardiner (to OHL Barrie)
F Joseph Henneberry (released from ATO to QMJHL Victoriaville)
F Jake Karabela (released from ATO to OHL Guelph)
F Angus MacDonell (to OHL Brampton)
D Niilopekka Muhonen (to WHL Medicine Hat)

Detroit Red Wings (per team announcement)

D Bauer Dumanski (released from ATO to WHL Prince George)
F Brayden Edwards (released from ATO to WHL Lethbridge)
D Marcus Kearsey (released from ATO to QMJHL Charlottetown)
F Chase Lefebvre (released from ATO to OHL Peterborough)
G Landon Miller (to OHL Soo)
F Charlie Paquette (released from ATO to OHL Guelph)
D Zach Sandhu (released from ATO to OHL Oshawa)
D Blake Smith (released from ATO to OHL Flint)
F Borya Valis (released from ATO to WHL Prince George)
D Josh Van Mulligen (released from ATO to WHL Medicine Hat)
D Matthew Virgilio (released from ATO to OHL Niagara)

Minnesota Wild (per team announcement)

F Gavin Hain (released from PTO to AHL Iowa)
G Kyle McClellan (released from PTO to AHL Iowa)
D Kalem Parker (to WHL Moose Jaw)
F Ryder Ritchie (to WHL Medicine Hat)
F Matthew Sop (released from PTO to AHL Iowa)
G Chase Wutzke (to WHL Red Deer)
D Will Zmolek (released from PTO to AHL Iowa)

New York Rangers (per team announcement)

D Joe Arntsen (to WHL Lethbridge)
G Brad Arvanitis (released from PTO to ECHL Maine)
F Maxim Barbashev (assigned to AHL Hartford)
D Seth Barton (assigned to AHL Hartford)
D Zach Berzolla (assigned to AHL Hartford)
D Ryan McCleary (assigned to AHL Hartford)
F Bryce McConnell-Barker (to OHL Soo)
F Max McCue (to OHL London)
D James Petrovski (to OHL Owen Sound)
F Dylan Roobroeck (to OHL Oshawa)
F Sahil Panwar (assigned to AHL Hartford)

Vancouver Canucks (per team announcement)

D Layton Ahac (released from PTO to AHL Abbotsford)
D Parker Alcos (to WHL Edmonton)
D Joseph Arntsen (released from ATO to AHL Abbotsford)
D Zach Berzolla (released from PTO to AHL Abbotsford)
F Josh Bloom (to AHL Abbotsford)
G Dylan Ferguson (released from PTO)
F Ty Glover (to AHL Abbotsford)
F Ty Halaburda (released from ATO, to WHL Vancouver)
F Dino Kambeitz (released from PTO to AHL Abbotsford)
G Jonathan Lemieux (released from PTO to AHL Abbotsford)
F Deagan McMillan (released from ATO to WHL Victoria)
F Riley Patterson (to OHL Barrie)
F Anthony Romani (to OHL North Bay)
D Basile Sansonnens (to QMJHL Rimouski)
F John Stevens (released from PTO to AHL Abbotsford)
F Carsen Twarynski (released from PTO to AHL Abbotsford)
F Cooper Walker (released from PTO to AHL Abbotsford)

Faksa Was Unhappy With Role In Dallas

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The Blues acquired veteran center Radek Faksa from Dallas earlier this summer, giving the 30-year-old a new team for the first time in his NHL career.  It turns out that Faksa was looking for a change of scenery at the time.  He told Lou Korac of The Hockey News that he went to Stars GM Jim Nill after the season to communicate that he wasn’t happy with his role and ice time.  Faksa was viewed as a two-way player early in his career but hasn’t been able to get past the 20-point mark in five straight years, resulting in him being deployed in more of a shutdown role with more limited minutes.  He’s entering the final year of his contract, one that carries a $3.25MM AAV.  He’ll likely need to show at least a bit more offensively with St. Louis to get a raise on the open market next summer.

Stars Notes: Robertson, Oettinger, Benn

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Star Dallas Stars forward Jason Robertson will miss the bulk of training camp after undergoing surgery this summer to remove a cyst from his foot, shares NHL.com’s Bruce LeVine. LeVine adds that Robertson just started skating again, and is still expected to join the team for the start of the regular season.

Robertson has emerged as perhaps the top player on a loaded Dallas roster. He crossed the 40-goal mark in both 2021-22 and 2022-23, capping the latter year off with a career-high 109 points. Those numbers came down to Earth last season, though his 80 points still led the Stars by 13 points. He’s proven just as impactful in the postseason, combining for 48 points in 55 games over the last three playoffs.

At 25, Robertson is still a stride away from his prime years but already sits among the league’s top scorers. His health and ability to contribute will be paramount as Dallas prepares for another run toward the Western Conference Finals.

Other notes out of Texas:

  • General manager Jim Nill shared in his opening day press conference that there have been no talks of an extension with goaltender Jake Oettinger, per Brien Rea of Bally Sports Southwest. Nill added that there are a few goalies on the open market that they’ll use to help price Oettinger, inadvertently mentioning the ongoing holdout between the Boston Bruins and Jeremy Swayman. Oettinger holds the upper hand to Swayman despite the two being the same age, with the former already achieving seasons of 50 and 60 games. He’s held strong in those outings, boasting a career save percentage of .913 through 193 games. Formerly a first-round pick, Oettinger has grabbed full control of Dallas’ starting role. He’ll look to be compensated as such as Dallas approaches a 2025 summer featuring an endless list of key pending-free agents, including Matt Duchene, Wyatt Johnston, and Jamie Benn.
  • Speaking of Benn, Nill also shared that he’ll be adamant about keeping the Stars’ captain when his deal expires. The GM went as far as saying, “As long as I’m GM, [Benn] is going to be a Dallas Star,” as captured by LeVine. Benn’s average ice time has decreased in the wake of Dallas’ emerging stars, but he remains a productive piece of the lineup – posting 21 goals and 60 points this season, and 33 goals and 78 points last season. He’s also played in every Stars’ regular season game dating back to the start of the 2021-22 season. At 35, Benn’s next deal is likely to carry him to retirement. Nill wants to ensure that happens with the only club that Benn has ever played for.

Prospect Angus MacDonell Drafted In National Lacrosse League

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  • Stars prospect Angus MacDonell has been drafted for the second time in as many years. After Dallas selected the 19-year-old in the sixth round last year, the NLL’s Buffalo Bandits announced (Twitter link) that they selected MacDonell in the fourth round of their draft on Sunday.  On top of recording 62 points in 61 games last season with OHL Mississauga, he also put up 29 points in 30 games in the Ontario Junior Lacrosse League, helping to earn this most recent selection.  Dallas has until June 1st to sign MacDonell to an entry-level deal and if one doesn’t materialize, he at least might have a fallback plan.

Stars Re-Sign Thomas Harley

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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.

Stars, Esa Lindell Agree To Five-Year Extension

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The Stars have signed defenseman Esa Lindell to a five-year contract extension worth $26.25MM, the team announced Tuesday. It will kick in next season and keep him in Texas through the 2029-30 season.

That works out to a $5.25MM cap hit, a slight decrease in average annual pay from the six-year, $34.8MM extension with a $5.8MM cap hit he signed in 2019 to keep him off the RFA market. He’s entering the final season of that deal. His extension carries a no-trade clause from 2025-26 through 2027-28 and a 20-team no-trade list in the 2028-29 and 2029-30 campaigns. The full breakdown is as follows, per PuckPedia:

2025-26: $4MM base salary, $2.5MM signing bonus
2026-27: $4MM base salary, $2.5MM signing bonus
2027-28: $4.25MM base salary, $1MM signing bonus
2028-29: $4MM base salary
2029-30: $4MM base salary

With restricted free agent Thomas Harley still unsigned with one day to go until training camp, it’s not the contract news Stars fans were expecting regarding a top-four defender. But it is a critical piece of business to keep Lindell, one of the league’s premier stay-at-home defensemen for the better part of the last decade, in Dallas past this season.

Despite being 6’3″ and 220 lbs, Lindell isn’t a bruiser by any stretch. In fact, he’s viewed as one of the more gentlemanly players in the league, finishing in the top 25 in Lady Byng Trophy voting in each of the past three years.

His shutdown game is one of awareness and strong skating ability to maintain positioning while defending the rush or back-checking. He was deployed heavily in defensive situations last year at even strength, logging 62.5% of his in-zone starts in his own end, and still managed to control 53.7% of expected goals.

The 30-year-old Finn consistently has below-average shot-attempt shares, but he serves as a prime example of why CF% is rarely an end-all-be-all to determine how well a player controls possession. He may bleed low-danger chances but rarely lets high-danger chances reach the Dallas net.

Lindell isn’t a non-factor offensively, either. He’s logged more than 20 points in each of the past three years, posting five goals and 21 assists for 26 points in 82 games last season. He’s extremely durable, too, having not missed a regular-season game since the 2021-22 campaign.

His ice time has been bumped down to more conservative levels ever since Peter DeBoer took over behind the bench for Rick Bowness in the 2022 offseason, though. After a half-decade of consistently seeing north of 22 minutes per game, Lindell’s averaged 20:12 over the past two seasons.

Lindell will be again tasked with anchoring Dallas’ second pairing this season, although there will be a bit of a competition for who ends up as his right-shot partner. UFA signings Mathew Dumba and Ilya Lyubushkin are expected to contend for the role, replacing 2024 trade-deadline rental Chris Tanev.

The Stars now have $37.5MM in projected cap space for the 2025-26 season, per PuckPedia, assuming an upper limit of $92MM. That figure only accounts for 10 players, though, with most of their forward group (and star goaltender Jake Oettinger) slated for RFA or UFA status next summer.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

ESPN’s Kevin Weekes was first to report the signing.

Evening Notes: Harley, Iginla, Levshunov

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Sean Shapiro of EP Rinkside spoke with Dallas Stars general manager about the team’s negotiations with restricted free-agent defenseman Thomas Harley. Nill showed no sense of urgency to speed along the process, highlighting the fact that training camp doesn’t start for another week so both sides have some time to agree to terms.

The 23-year-old is coming off a career year in which he posted 15 goals and 32 assists in 79 games and is a tough contract to project due to the small sample size in which he’s played at a high level. Prior to last season, the Syracuse, New York native had only played 40 NHL games over parts of two seasons and hadn’t yet established himself as an everyday NHLer. Now, a year later, Harley has broken through and appears to be everything the Stars were hoping for when they drafted him 18th overall in 2019.

In other evening notes:

  • Utah’s 2024 first-round pick Tij Iginla is reportedly being evaluated for a lower-body injury and will be listed as day-to-day going forward (as per Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports). Brogan Houston of Deseret News added specifics on the injury saying that Iginla is dealing with a hip issue that will keep him off the ice for a few days. Iginla is Utah’s first-ever draft pick and appears unlikely to play for the team at the Rookie Faceoff in Los Angeles this weekend.
  • Chicago Blackhawks prospect Artyom Levshunov will miss the prospect tournament this weekend in St. Louis after taking a shot off the foot (as per Mark Lazerus of The Athletic). Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that the young defenceman is expected to miss a few weeks and is in a walking boot which will be a disappointment for all of those who were looking to catch a glimpse of this year’s second overall pick. Levshunov was facing a battle to try and make the NHL roster, but with the injury, it seems very likely that he won’t begin the season in the NHL.

Jordie Benn Announces Retirement

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Veteran defenseman Jordie Benn has retired after a 17-year run in the pros, he told Paul Haysom of CHEK News.

Benn, 37, last played in the NHL for the Maple Leafs in the 2022-23 season. The older brother of Stars captain Jamie Benn closes the book on a 12-year, 607-game NHL résumé – an incredibly unlikely run.

Not only was Benn undrafted, he never played high-level juniors or collegiate hockey. The physical, stay-at-home defender spent parts of four seasons in Junior ’A’ for his hometown Victoria Grizzlies in the British Columbia Hockey League before turning pro in 2008, staying in British Columbia but jumping to the ECHL with the Victoria Salmon Kings.

Benn worked his way up the professional ranks over the next couple of seasons, landing an AHL contract with the Texas Stars for 2010-11 before inking his first NHL contract, a one-year entry-level pact, with Dallas for the 2011-12 campaign. That kicked off a six-year run for both Jordie and Jamie playing together in the Lone Star State.

The elder Benn spent most of 2011-12 back on the farm with Texas, but he did make his NHL debut with two assists in three games with the big club. Two years later, he was a regular in a depth role on the Dallas blue line, saying goodbye to the AHL entirely after splitting the lockout-shortened 2012-13 campaign between leagues.

While Benn mostly used his 6’2″, 201-lb frame to be a physical force and box out opponents, resulting in some decent possession numbers in his heyday, he wasn’t a complete non-factor offensively. He put up decent production on the Stars’ blue line in a low-scoring era, totaling 11 goals, 60 assists and 71 points with a +7 rating in 302 games there before he was traded to the Canadiens shortly before the 2017 deadline.

Benn remained an effective fringe top-four option in Montreal, posting 39 points and a +12 rating in 171 appearances in parts of three seasons while averaging 18:26 per game, slightly more than he averaged during his time in Dallas. Upon reaching unrestricted free agency in 2019, he inked a two-year, $4MM deal with the Canucks, returning as close to home as possible.

Unfortunately, it was in Vancouver his game began to decline, with his point-per-game production halving and his ice time slipping to exclusively bottom-pairing usage. He was traded to the Jets as a rental at the 2021 deadline and then spent 2021-22 with the Wild before landing in Toronto for 2022-23.

North of the border, Benn struggled with injuries, limited to a goal and an assist in 12 NHL appearances with a -1 rating. He was sent to the AHL’s Toronto Marlies for his first minor-league assignment in a decade, posting six points in 23 games there.

Upon reaching unrestricted free agency again last summer, Benn decided to try his luck overseas by inking a one-year deal with Sweden’s Brynäs IF. He ended up being a major get for the club, which relied heavily on his strong performance (22 points, +24 rating in 39 games) to win the second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan championship and gain promotion back to the Swedish Hockey League for 2024-25.

It’s a neat bookend for Benn, who opts to end his pro career on a high note. In his NHL minutes, he recorded a very respectable 26 goals, 111 assists, 137 points, and a +19 rating while averaging 17:28 per contest. He tended to have positive possession quality impacts at even strength over the course of his career, posting a 50.8 xG%, per Hockey Reference.

Benn is about to welcome his third child, he told Haysom, but hopes to work in a front-office role in some capacity when the time is right. All of us at PHR congratulate him on a lengthy run in the pros and wish him the best in his next chapter.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Alex Goligoski Confirms Retirement

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Free agent defenseman Alex Goligoski is hanging up his skates, he confirmed to Joe Smith of The Athletic. It’s the expected outcome after reports in June indicated he wasn’t expected back with the Wild, where he spent the final three seasons of his career.

“I think I’ve known for a while,” Goligoski told Smith. “Do you hang around and see if some team wants to throw some money at you? I have no desire to move my family. No desire to go by myself and do all that. That’s the most amazing thing about finishing in Minnesota. It makes it easier to say, ‘Hey, I’m good.’”

“…I think it’s the longevity of it, honestly. I can totally see where it’d be very difficult if you’re not planning on being done, where it’s like you don’t get a contract but you’re still younger. It feels to me like I’ve had my fun, I’ve done it long enough. I’m good to step away and move on.”

Goligoski, 39, was a second-round pick by the Penguins in 2004 before starting a three-year run at the University of Minnesota. The Grand Rapids, Minnesota native turned pro with Pittsburgh for the 2007-08 campaign, playing parts of four seasons in the Steel City before being sent to the Stars in a blockbuster swap for James Neal and Matt Niskanen.

A top-pairing option for much of the 2010s in Dallas, Goligoski’s signing rights were traded to the Coyotes just days before becoming a free agent in 2016 and quickly signed a five-year, $27.38MM deal. He continued to hold down top-four minutes there for the life of that contract before signing a one-year, $5MM deal with the Wild, his hometown club, in 2021. He signed a two-year, $4MM deal to extend his stay in the State of Hockey the following summer, which expired this June.

The writing was on the wall for Goligoski after last season, which saw him limited to 10 assists in 36 games while averaging 14:49 per game and serving as a healthy scratch for long stretches of the season. He hasn’t been a top-of-the-lineup option since his days in Arizona, but he did remain a capable puck-moving presence in a limited role after joining the Wild.

Goligoski was one of the league’s 10 oldest players last season. Three players ahead of him on the list – Jeff Carter, Zach Parise, and Joe Pavelski – had already retired this summer, making Goligoski the sixth-oldest active player in the league at the time of his retirement.

His first season as an NHL regular saw him lift the Stanley Cup with the Penguins in 2009, appearing in 45 regular-season games and two playoff games en route to the championship win. Over 1,078 regular-season games, he scored 87 goals, 388 assists, and 475 points and posted a +55 rating while averaging 21:55 per night. He added 21 points in 47 playoff games in six trips to the postseason (2009, 2010, 2014, 2016, 2020, and 2022).

While ending his playing days, Goligoski hopes to kick off a career in an NHL front office soon. “I’ve always liked breaking down what teams do and why they do it,” he told Smith. “I have a good sense of the right way to do things. I’ve seen it. I’ve seen the right way and the wrong way to do things. I think it’d be something I’m good at. So we’ll see.” He doesn’t have an official role with the Wild, but Smith reports Wild general manager Bill Guerin will be open to hiring him once he’s ready to begin the next phase of his hockey career.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Salary Cap Deep Dive: Dallas Stars

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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 that 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 heading into the 2024-25 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 begin with a look at the Central Division; next up is Dallas.

Dallas Stars

Current Cap Hit: $81,756,241 (under the $88MM Upper Limit)

Entry-Level Contracts

F Mavrik Bourque (one year, $894K)
F Wyatt Johnston (one year, $894K)
F Logan Stankoven (two years, $814K)

Potential Bonuses
Johnston: $318.75K
Stankoven: $82.5K
Total: $401.25K

It’s fair to say that Johnston has provided significant value on his contract so far.  After putting up 24 goals and 41 points in his rookie season, those numbers jumped to 32 and 65 respectively last year while also tying for the team lead in playoff scoring.  This is the type of player that the Stars will want to lock up on a long-term agreement.  However, that deal is going to be quite pricey.  At this point, if Johnston has even a similar performance this coming season let alone a more productive effort, he could be looking for $8MM or more on that second contract.  If their cap situation ultimately dictates a short-term second deal, it’s likely to come in around the $6MM range.

Stankoven was one of the top scorers in the minors last season before being recalled and was productive in a middle-six role.  Assuming he locks down a full-time spot this year, he could make a case for a longer-term second contract, one that is a bit too early to project at this point.  Bourque eventually took over as the top scorer at the AHL level with Stankoven’s departure and only got into one regular season game with Dallas.  That should change this season but unless he has a big year offensively, he’s someone who will likely wind up with a bridge deal for his second contract.

Signed Through 2024-25, Non-Entry-Level

F Jamie Benn ($9.5MM, UFA)
F Colin Blackwell ($775K, UFA)
F Evgenii Dadonov ($2.25MM, UFA)
F Matt Duchene ($3MM, UFA)
D Esa Lindell ($5.8MM, UFA)
D Nils Lundkvist ($1.25MM, RFA)
G Jake Oettinger ($4MM, RFA)
D Brendan Smith ($1MM, UFA)
F Sam Steel ($1.2MM, UFA)

When Benn signed this contract, he was among the top-scoring wingers in the NHL.  While he hasn’t been able to get to that level of production (high-80s in points) since then, he has rebounded nicely over the last couple of seasons, notching 78 and 60 points respectively.  While that’s not a great return on this price tag, he’s still producing like a core player.  Given his age when his next contract will begin (36), the AAV might be closer to the $5MM mark.  If he signs a one-year deal next time out, he’ll be eligible for performance incentives, similar to what Dallas had been doing with Joe Pavelski before his retirement.

Duchene was a late entrant to the free agent market last summer so the one-year, $3MM deal he signed then made sense for both sides, seemingly positioning himself for a raise and a multi-year guarantee this past summer.  Instead, he opted to stick around on the same contract, leaving some money and security on the table in the process.  It’s possible he agrees to do so again next summer but if he doesn’t, he could still land a three-year (or so) agreement closer to $4.5MM per season.  Dadonov wasn’t as productive as he was late in the 2022-23 season after being acquired but with 23 points in 51 games, he still provided a decent return on this deal.  He has indicated that he doesn’t want any early extension talks and has left the door open to finishing up his career in the KHL.

Steel had a decent season in the bottom six but his arbitration eligibility was a concern, resulting in him being non-tendered.  While he did have some interest elsewhere, he ultimately elected to remain with the Stars.  With that outside interest, Steel should be able to land this deal or a bit more next summer if he has a similar showing this season.  Blackwell struggled with injuries the last two seasons which certainly didn’t help his cause going into free agency.  Nonetheless, as a capable penalty killer who can play center in a pinch, he could rebuild his value with a good showing in 2024-25 and push past the $1MM mark on his next contract.

Lindell is one of the more intriguing defensemen league-wide who is heading into the final year of his contract.  When he signed this contract back in 2019, he was coming off a bridge deal and what looked like a breakout 32-point campaign.  If he could find another gear offensively, Lindell would become quite a bargain at this price point.  Instead, he hasn’t gotten back to that total since with his best output coming this past season at 26.  While Lindell is still a very capable defensive defender, the limited production will limit his market to an extent as will the fact he’ll be 31 when his next contract starts.  With the cap starting to go up, a small raise could be doable but if he wants a long-term agreement (seven or eight years), it wouldn’t be surprising if the AAV came in slightly below this, barring an offensive breakout in the coming months.

Lundkvist hasn’t been able to provide the secondary offensive contributions Dallas was hoping for when they moved a pair of draft picks (including a first-rounder) for him in 2022.  Then, when the playoffs came around, his playing time was just 4:28 per night in a dozen games when he wasn’t a healthy scratch.  Thus, it wasn’t entirely shocking that he was non-tendered to avoid arbitration although the fact he was brought back might have.  He’ll once again look to earn some trust from the coaching staff (and perhaps a small raise if he’s able to do so) but will be a non-tender candidate next summer as well.  Smith came over in free agency and is set to play a depth role.  Now 35, it’s likely he’ll be going year-to-year on similarly-priced contracts from here on out.

Signed Through 2025-26

D Matt Dumba ($3.75MM, UFA)
F Mason Marchment ($4.5MM, UFA)
F Jason Robertson ($7.75MM, RFA)

Robertson has emerged as a legitimate top-line star, notching 268 points in 238 games over the last three seasons.  Signing after a 41-goal effort, the two sides worked out a rare four-year bridge deal, one that gives Dallas some good value on the contract while also setting him up for a pricier contract in his final RFA-eligible campaign.  He’s owed a qualifying offer of $9.3MM with arbitration rights at that time and unless he struggles over the next couple of seasons, there’s a good chance he’ll push past the $10MM mark in 2026.  Marchment, meanwhile, rebounded nicely after a quiet first season in Dallas.  If he stays near the 50-point mark over the next two seasons, he’ll have demonstrated enough consistency to give him a much stronger market, especially with the premium typically given to power forwards.  That could push his next price tag past $6MM per season.

Dumba didn’t get the long-term deal he sought last summer, resulting in him taking a one-year pact with an eye on having more success this summer.  That didn’t exactly happen as he had a quiet season in Arizona before finishing up with Tampa Bay, putting him back on the open market in a similar spot.  Getting two years at this money was more due to his track record than his performance last season; he’ll need to rebound if he wants a chance to get past the $4MM mark again in 2026.

Signed Through 2026-27

G Casey DeSmith ($1MM, UFA)
D Ilya Lyubushkin ($3.25MM, UFA)
F Tyler Seguin ($9.85MM, UFA)

It was expected that the best was yet to come from Seguin when he signed this contract in 2018.  While his best showing came just after this contract was signed (in the last season of his old deal), he has struggled since then, only putting up more than 50 points just once, that coming last season when he got to 52.  He’s still a capable top-six player but this is a price tag that’s well above market value.  His next deal might check in closer to half of this one as a result.

Lyubushkin rarely plays above the third pairing but did well enough last season to command his best contract so far.  That said, unless he can take on a bit more of a workload, it’s hard to see him getting another raise in 2027 as this is already on the rich side for someone destined to play around 16-17 minutes a night.

DeSmith gave Vancouver a small boost at the backup goalie position last season but after being surpassed by Arturs Silovs on the depth chart in the playoffs, it was clear DeSmith would be going elsewhere.  He elected for stability and a winning environment over chasing top dollar, giving the Stars a reliable second-string option at a below-market cost.

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