Stars sign Cameron Hughes to two-year, two-way contract extension

The Dallas Stars announced on Friday that the team has agreed to terms with center Cameron Hughes on a two-year, two-way contract extension.

Hughes, a veteran of the AHL, was a key producer for the Texas Stars this past season, putting up 23 goals and 34 assists for 57 points in 69 games played.

He then went on to dominate in the Calder Cup playoffs, recording 4 goals and 15 assists for a 19-point effort in 14 contests. That was good enough to lead the Stars and put him third in the AHL in points in the playoffs.

Hughes, a 28-year old Edmonton native, turned professional after his collegiate career at the University of Wisconsin, where he tallied 92 career points and served as captain in his senior season, as a member of the Boston Bruins organization.

The left-handed shot has played two career games in the NHL, both with the Bruins, and he first broke out as a prolific point producer in the AHL in 2020-2021 with Providence.

After another successful campaign in 2021-2022, Hughes moved on to the Seattle Kraken‘s organization, putting up 56 and 57 points for the Coachella Valley Firebirds in his two seasons with them before landing in Texas last year.

The Stars have been busy this week as Nill looks to maneuver around a salary cap crunch.

The veteran general manager utilized most of his remaining cap space on a four-year deal to bring Matt Duchene back to Dallas, and on Thursday night, he dealt Mason Marchment to Seattle to give himself more space to work with.

Dallas made a major salary cap commitment in extending Mikko Rantanen’s contract after acquiring him at the trade deadline.

The team still needs to add several forwards to the mix to fill out its depth chart, and according to Puckpedia, has just under $5 million in cap space as of June 20.