FRISCO, Texas — The Dallas Stars are signing David Perron to a one-year contract worth a pro-rated $850,000, adding a winger who will begin his 20th NHL season when he joins the club. Perron, 38, had been an unrestricted free agent since July 1.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman first reported Thursday that Perron was headed to Dallas, and a person familiar with the move confirmed it to The Dallas Morning News. Frank Seravalli of Sportsnet reported the contract figure, which is the league minimum. The Stars had not formally announced the signing as of Thursday.
Through seven games, Dallas is averaging 2.14 goals per game, which ranks 30th in the NHL. Last season the Stars scored 3.33 goals per game and ranked ninth. They are 3-3-1 after splitting a home-and-home set with the Colorado Avalanche this week, losing 3-2 at American Airlines Center on Tuesday and winning 3-2 in a shootout at Ball Arena on Wednesday.
Perron has 332 goals and 480 assists for 812 points in 1,239 regular-season games. In 110 playoff games, he has added 26 goals and 38 assists.
He split the 2025-26 season between the Ottawa Senators and the Detroit Red Wings, finishing with 13 goals and 15 assists in 65 games. Ottawa traded him to Detroit in March, and he scored 3 goals without an assist for the Red Wings the rest of the way. He averaged 13:34 of ice time across those 65 games.
David Perron’s 11 Seasons With The St. Louis Blues
The St. Louis Blues drafted Perron 26th overall in 2007, and he played 11 seasons for the franchise across three separate stints. In St. Louis, he appeared in 673 games and totaled 465 points.
St. Louis traded Perron to the Edmonton Oilers in July 2013. Edmonton dealt him to the Pittsburgh Penguins in January 2015. Pittsburgh traded him to the Anaheim Ducks in January 2016, and he went back to St. Louis as a free agent that summer.
The Vegas Golden Knights took Perron from the Blues in the 2017 expansion draft. In 2017-18, he had 66 points in 70 games for Vegas, which is still a career high. The Golden Knights reached the Stanley Cup Final that season.
He signed a four-year, $16 million deal to go back to St. Louis in 2018. During the 2018-19 regular season, he had 23 goals and 23 assists in 57 games. In the playoff run that ended with the Blues winning the 2019 Stanley Cup, Perron added 7 goals and 9 assists in 26 games. He was named to the NHL All-Star Game in 2020.
Detroit signed him as a free agent in 2022. He had 24 goals and 32 assists in 82 games for the Red Wings in 2022-23, then 17 goals and 30 assists in 76 games the following season.
Matt Duchene’s Surgery And The Mavrik Bourque Trade
On Monday, the Stars announced that Matt Duchene underwent surgery to repair a core injury and is expected to miss about three months. Duchene, 35, has not played this season after Dallas placed him on long-term injured reserve Oct. 1 with a lower-body injury.
Duchene dealt with the injury through training camp before the Stars brought in other people to examine it, Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said Monday.
“He had some issues (during training camp), and then we thought (if) we took some time (he) could work through them,” Gulutzan said. “And then (he) couldn’t. And so then we got another look at it, a couple other people to look at it. And a collection of those minds decided, ‘Let’s take care of it rather than trying to just work through it.’”
Last season, Duchene had 16 goals and 29 assists in 57 games. He had 30 goals and 52 assists in 82 games in 2024-25, and he is in the second season of a four-year, $18 million extension.
Dallas traded Mavrik Bourque and defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin to the Nashville Predators on July 1 for a 2027 second-round pick and a 2028 third-round pick. Bourque was a pending restricted free agent at the time of the trade and had 20 goals and 21 assists in 82 games last season. The Stars drafted him 30th overall in 2020.
Dallas plays its next game Saturday at the Chicago Blackhawks. Puck drop at United Center is set for 6 p.m. CT.
