Jason Robertson’s Arbitration Hearing Is Set For July 25 As Dallas Stars Face A Cap Crunch

FRISCO, Texas — Jason Robertson’s salary arbitration hearing now has a firm date: Saturday, July 25, according to PuckPedia, sharpening the deadline on a Dallas Stars front office that still hasn’t locked up its leading scorer.

Robertson filed for arbitration on July 5, one of 15 restricted free agents league-wide to do so this offseason after his four-year, $31M contract expired on July 1, according to the NHL Players’ Association. A player can sign with his own club anytime before his hearing arrives — which is exactly the path his own family just took.

A Family Blueprint for Beating the Clock

Younger brother Nick Robertson avoided his own arbitration hearing, which had been set for July 28, by signing a two-year deal worth $3.25M annually with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Pittsburgh had roughly $16.9 million in cap space to make that work, according to PuckPedia.

Dallas isn’t nearly as flush: the Stars have about $10.6 million in cap space, and Jason Robertson is in a different financial tier than his brother. ESPN reported in late June that he could be seeking upward of $14 million annually on his next deal, well above the $7.75 million cap hit he carried in 2025-26.

The Risk of Letting This Reach a Hearing

That gap between what’s available and what Robertson wants complicates a quick resolution, but the stakes of letting this slide to a hearing go beyond an awkward afternoon.

Absent a new contract, Robertson could be awarded only a one-year arbitration deal that walks him to unrestricted free agency next summer, turning him into a rental asset that would net Dallas less in any trade — at this year’s deadline or beyond.

Robertson has already shown he’s not eager to go: he turned down a trade to the Seattle Kraken that would have come with a new contract offer, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.

Jason Robertson Among Six Still Unresolved Leaguewide

Robertson is one of just six of the 15 league-wide arbitration filers who haven’t yet reached new deals. Nine others — including Jamie Drysdale and Trevor Zegras of the Philadelphia Flyers, Kirby Dach of the Montreal Canadiens and Connor McMichael of the St. Louis Blues — signed before their hearings over the past two weeks.

No team elected for arbitration on any of its own players this offseason, leaving the process entirely player-driven.

The Numbers Driving Robertson’s Ask

Robertson is coming off a 45-goal, 96-point season, his fourth straight with at least 80 points, and set a career high in average ice time at roughly 20:15 per game. Forty-one of his points came on the power play.

According to David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period, other teams approached Robertson’s camp about offer sheets before the arbitration filing, but there had been little traction between the Stars and their winger going into the weekend before he filed.

Cap Sheet Management

General manager Jim Nill has spent the early part of free agency managing a tight salary cap situation with Robertson’s next deal in mind. Dallas traded 24-year-old forward Mavrik Bourque and defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin to the Nashville Predators for a second- and third-round pick rather than risk losing Bourque to an offer sheet, and watched depth defenseman Alexander Petrovic sign with the Florida Panthers in free agency.

The Stars did retain some familiarity up front, bringing back forward Joel Kiviranta on a one-year, $1M contract after he spent four seasons in Dallas from 2019-23.

If Robertson and the Stars can’t reach an extension before Saturday, arbitration would produce only that one-year bridge deal. Dallas can still sign him to a maximum eight-year extension before the hearing, but with a firm date on the calendar and a cap crunch to navigate, the Stars have less margin than the Penguins did to get their Robertson situation resolved quietly.