Stars sign Nils Lundkvist to one-year contract extension

The Dallas Stars announced on Friday that the team has agreed to terms with defenseman Nils Lundkvist on a one-year contract extension for the 2025-2026 season.

Lundkvist, a 24-year-old Swede, skated in 39 regular season games for the Stars in the 2024-2025 campaign, recording five assists and posting a plus-5 rating.

A first-round pick of the New York Rangers in the 2018 NHL draft, Lundkvist has played 183 games in his career with 9 goals, 35 assists and 44 points to show for it.

In 2023-2024, the right-shot defender recorded a career-high 19 points in 59 games. He also appeared in 12 playoff games that year.

When Lundkvist draws into the lineup, he frequently pairs with Esa Lindell. The duo has skated 517 minutes together at 5-on-5 over the last two seasons according to Natural Stat Trick, posting a goals for share of 60 percent and a scoring chance share of 53.44 percent.

General manager Jim Nill has significant work to do this summer. According to Puckpedia, this signing brings the team down to about $3.7 million in cap space.

That number was close to zero after giving a four-year contract extension to Matt Duchene, but a deal to send Mason Marchment to Seattle for draft pick compensation gave the organization some much-needed breathing room.

Dallas now has seven defensemen signed to NHL contracts for next season, with Thomas Harley, Miro Heiskanen, Esa Lindell, Lian Bichsel, Matt Dumba and Ilya Lyubushkin joining Lundkvist.

Dumba and Lyubushkin are possible salary cap casualties, however, at a combined cap hit of $7 million.

Moving on from those deals could help Nill fill out his forward unit, but would also require him finding lower-cost replacements to complete the defense.

The Stars are coming off of another loss in the Western Conference Final at the hands of the Edmonton Oilers, and the team dismissed head coach Peter DeBoer days after the season came to an end.