Dallas Stars Sign Jason Robertson To One-Year, $12M Deal, Avoid Arbitration

FRISCO, Texas — The Dallas Stars signed forward Jason Robertson to a one-year, $12M contract Tuesday, avoiding a salary arbitration hearing that had been scheduled for Saturday and locking in their leading scorer one day before his 27th birthday.

Robertson filed for arbitration July 5 after more than a year of negotiations failed to produce a long-term deal. The $12M figure matches the average annual value on the eight-year contract Dallas gave Mikko Rantanen last season, a number the team held to throughout talks even as Robertson reportedly pushed for closer to $14M annually.

A Cornerstone Since 2017

Stars general manager Jim Nill framed the signing as a continuation of a relationship dating back to the draft. “Jason has been a cornerstone of our franchise since he was drafted in 2017,” Nill said in a statement, adding that Robertson has developed into one of the league’s top offensive threats and that the front office remains focused on building toward a championship.

Dallas took Robertson with the No. 39 pick in 2017, the same draft that produced Miro Heiskanen at third overall and Jake Oettinger at 26th overall. All three remain core pieces of the roster. The new deal replaces a four-year, $31M contract that carried a $7.75M cap hit and ran through the 2025-26 season.

A Career Year Priced the Deal

Robertson set the price tag with the best individual season of his career. He finished 2025-26 with 96 points on 45 goals and 51 assists in 82 games, tying for fourth in the NHL in goals and posting the third 40-goal season of his career.

He ranks fourteenth in franchise scoring and third in points per game among Stars skaters with at least three games played, and he has helped Dallas reach three consecutive Western Conference Finals from 2023 to 2025, adding 52 points in 62 career playoff games.

Short-Term Deal, Long-Term Questions

The one-year term leaves Robertson’s future beyond this season unresolved. He’s still on track to become an unrestricted free agent next summer, though the Stars can negotiate an extension starting Jan. 1, 2027. New NHL rules taking effect Sept. 16, 2026, will cap that extension at seven years if he stays in Dallas or six years if he signs elsewhere as a free agent.

Dallas had already explored moving on. The team received permission to discuss a sign-and-trade with the Seattle Kraken that reportedly would have sent the No. 7 pick in this year’s draft to Dallas, but Robertson turned down an eight-year, $15M-a-year offer from Seattle rather than leave.

The Stars are now projected to sit roughly $1.4M over the salary cap after the signing, according to PuckPedia, a gap the team should close before training camp opens in September. Tyler Seguin‘s $9.85M cap hit comes off the books after next summer, giving Dallas more flexibility when Robertson’s situation comes back up.