Dallas wants to keep Jason Robertson long-term, but what will the deal look like?
Dave Pagnotta of The Fourth Period joined SiriusXM NHL Network Radio with Gord Stellick and Scott Laughlin on Monday and was asked about the situation in Dallas with the Stars and Jason Robertson.
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
NHL Rumors: Dallas Stars Want to Sign Jason Robertson Long-Term
Gord Stellick: “So now another one came out. I thought Jim Nill just being public about interest in chatting with Jason Robertson. He can’t sign him till January 1, but he can start. He’s going to start talking in December. So this kind of a, I can see he wants to talk nice to a guy that it was sort of up in the air. It seems he wants to stay there.
Obviously, they couldn’t find a way to get the money, which is a problem. Being one of the teams close to the salary cap and one of the better teams. So I don’t know what he’s going to do or whatever, but it seems like he’s making it a big time priority that last summer doesn’t repeat next year because then he can go for nothing.”
Dave Pagnotta: “Exactly, and without question, that’s a huge item that he wants to check off his list going into the next season. They do have a lot of cap space to play with starting next season. I think that they’re sitting around $35 million in cap space for next year. Now, albeit, yeah, they have to get him signed.
Tyler Seguin’s money comes off the books. I suspect they figure out something there on an extension with him and obviously lower money, similar to how they dealt with Jamie Benn. Although I don’t see Seguin taking a $1 million, regardless, the big $9.85 million is going to come off the books, and if Seguin stays, it’ll be at a lower hit.
NHL Rumors: Toronto Maple Leafs, Pittsburgh Penguins, and the Dallas Stars
And they have obviously a few other guys that they’ll need to sign to round up the roster. But with the big money coming in, the cap going up, the money to play with, Dallas can’t necessarily use the cap restraints as an excuse in negotiations because they don’t really have them for next season. So it’s going to come down to where they see the money fitting. How much will that be applied to the tax-free state element? The cap hit overall will probably be lower than in other areas.
But as you mentioned, he wants to stay. They want to keep him. It’s now about finding that happy middle ground on the dollar figure that they weren’t able to address last season because primarily of their cap situation. Now, the shackles kind of come off a little bit with respect to being right up against the cap with him signed, giving them a little more flexibility into trying to make something done.
But with all the numbers going up, is this an $18 million player? Is it a $19 million player? Depending on term, is it $15, $16 million, $17 million? I mean, he was looking for $15 million, before the (Leo) Carlsson stuff was kicking in, had kicked in. So this is going to be a big ticket. There’s no question, and his overall performance this season will dictate exactly what that number is going to be, whether it’s Dallas or somewhere else.”
NHLRumors.com Note: It is clear that Dallas Stars GM Jim Nill wants to get a deal done with Jason Robertson. Nill has made multiple public appearances since the Robertson extension, stating as much. Nill believes the player wants to stay in Dallas. Look, Robertson could have already left for Seattle, St. Louis, or Pittsburgh. Robertson wants to be there, but wants fair market value like Alex DeBrincat wanted in Detroit.
NHL Rumors: The Plan from the Dallas Stars to Keep Jason Robertson Long-Term
The Dallas Stars knew $15 million plus this season would be tough given the cap situation. A one-year deal at $12 million allows them the flexibility to get a new deal in place after January 1st, when the cap won’t be an issue next season. That was the goal: get through this year’s struggles and get him signed.
That remains the goal. However, it won’t be an eight-year max anymore. It will be a seven-year max now, if the Stars and Jason Robertson decide to go that route.
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