Jason Robertson: Stars are a rare and logical trade partner for the Habs

The Dallas Stars forward will complete the final year of a four-year, $31 million contract (average annual salary $7.45 million) and become an uncompensated free agent at the end of next season.

At 25 years of age, Robertson should enjoy a healthy salary increase with campaigns of 79, 109, 80 and 80 points. He has also scored 35 or more goals in three of the last four seasons.

The problem for the Stars is that they have little wiggle room with their salary cap.

According to Puckpedia, the team has $4,955,084 to spend this summer, and several Dallas players will be unrestricted free agents: forwards Jamie Benn, Matt Duchene, Evgenii Dadonov, Mikael Granlund and Colin Blackwell, as well as defensemen Codi Ceci and Brendan Smith.

That’s a lot of people to sign for just under $5 million.

The Stars will have to make some tough choices, as many of these players were at the heart of the Stars’ success last season, but they’re all field hockey players past their thirties who could quickly decline in the years to come.

On the other hand, the Stars can’t afford to let everyone go either, and they’ll have to bring back at least some of their veterans.

This is where we start to see how Mikko Rantanen’s $12 million per year contract (not to mention Tyler Seguin’s $9.85 million per year for two more years) could quickly force Dallas to sacrifice some of its depth.

Which brings us to Robertson: I don’t see how the Stars will have the money to sign him at the end of the next campaign.

Will the Texans risk taking him on the free agent market for nothing? I think it would be the worst move for them.

And the Canadiens could be a good trade partner for the Stars, as the team has several quality young players still on their NHL entry-level contracts

However, the price to pay for a player of Roberson’s caliber is going to be high, probably two or three good prospects, as he’s been an elite forward for four seasons already, but it would definitely be a solid acquisition for our top six.

Overtime

• The city is in hockey mode!

– A nice visit.

– Last Saturday of hockey for a while!

– The coach ‘s speech after the win.

– Jays loss.

– The end for Zack Wheeler?