Dallas Signs Jason Robertson To One-Year Deal

The 26-year-old was coming off a career year, posting 45 goals and 51 assists for 96 points in 82 games in 2025-26, earning First-Team All-NHL honors for the second time in his career (he also made the team in 2023). Reports had Robertson seeking a long-term deal in the $14MM range, more in line with the AAV Leon Draisaitl signed for in Edmonton, while the Stars had previously floated an eight-year offer worth roughly $96MM (a $12MM AAV, in the neighborhood of what Mikko Rantanen carries) that Robertson turned down. The one-year bridge splits the difference for now, giving Robertson the higher AAV he was pushing for without locking him into a long-term number below his ask.

Per Stars beat writer Sam Nestler, Robertson will be eligible to sign an extension on or after January 1st and is set to become a UFA after next season. Because of where he sits in his career, Dallas holds an edge in those extension talks; the Stars could sign him to a seven-year extension, while any other club could only offer him six.

The short-term deal complicates an already tight cap picture in Dallas. Per PuckPedia, the Stars now project $1.36MM over the cap with 22 players on the active roster (13F/7D/2G) plus Tyler Seguin on IR. To be compliant for the opening roster submission, they’ll need to option or waive at least two players; Arttu Hyry is waiver-exempt, while Oskar Back, Colin Blackwell, and Kyle Capobianco are among the waiver-eligible names who could be sent down to get the books in order.

Robertson’s now-expired deal was a four-year, $31MM extension signed in 2022 that carried a $7.75MM cap hit, a number that looked like a bargain by the end of it given his 2025-26 output.

Stepping back, this reads like a deal that lets both sides avoid the arbitration room and buy some time before tackling the bigger, long-term negotiation that’s still to come. For the 2026-27 season alone, $12MM looks like a pretty good number for Dallas, especially set against what other players have signed for around the league of late, Kirill Kaprizov’s new Minnesota deal, for instance, carries a $17MM AAV. If Nill makes it a priority to get something done long-term, the moment Robertson becomes extension-eligible on January 1st.

There was plenty of worry among Stars fans this summer that the Arcadia, California native wouldn’t be suiting up in green and black next season, so this is a welcomed sigh of relief, for now. In 456 career NHL games, Robo has 213 goals and 490 points.

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