Christian Fitzgerald

The Dallas Stars have continued adding to their organizational depth through the college ranks. Dallas has announced the signing of forward Christian Fitzgerald to a one-year contract, beginning in the 2026-27 season. He’ll join the AHL’s Texas Stars for the remainder of the year on an amateur tryout agreement.

According to PuckPedia, Fitzgerald’s one-year, entry-level contract will come with an $850K NHL salary, $102.5K signing bonus, the possibility of a $72.5K games played bonus, and an $85K AHL salary.

Fitzgerald, 23, recently concluded his collegiate career at the University of Wisconsin. Fitzgerald helped the Badgers reach the National Championship for the first time since 2010, ultimately losing to the University of Denver Pioneers.

He began his college tenure at Minnesota State University, scoring 16 goals and 29 points in 38 games, making for an extremely productive rookie campaign. However, when head coach Mike Hastings signed on with the Badgers, Fitzgerald followed him to Madison as a transfer.

Unfortunately, Fitzerald’s production dipped following the move, scoring 13 goals and 41 points in 74 contests, bottoming out with a six-goal, 17-point showing last season.

Still, Fitzgerald rebounded in a big way for his senior season, scoring 16 goals and 31 points in 39 games, finishing third on the team in scoring.

Although far from a top prospect, the Stars have had decent luck with collegiate free agents. Dallas signed Justin Hryckowian out of Northeastern University a few years ago, and he’s become a reliable tertiary scorer for the club in his second professional campaign. Fitzgerald has some maturing to do on the defensive side of the puck, but the Stars clearly trust in their developmental system enough to get as much as they can out of him.