To all appearances, the Dallas club and Jason Robertson, its standout on the wing, remain stuck in neutral on a fresh pact. The 26-year-old reaches restricted free agency on the first of July and has a hefty bump coming over the $7.75M figure he banked annually across the prior four seasons.
The two camps have failed to land an extension ever since Robertson became eligible a year ago, and a resolution will probably have to come sooner rather than later. But per Frank Seravalli, the insider featured on a Big Show segment with hosts Rusic and Rose, the discussions are still going nowhere, with the winger's side perhaps fixed on a number the club is loath to meet.
A week ago Seravalli offered that, in his estimation, the parties sit well apart. He suggested Dallas may need to reconsider its own internal salary pecking order: with Mikko Rantanen atop it, would the Stars stretch past that mark for Robertson? That, Seravalli figures, is what the situation requires on the cap front. He placed Robertson's camp as targeting roughly $14M annually, plainly north of where Rantanen sits.
In invoking the team's other star wing, Mikko Rantanen, Seravalli echoed earlier reporting that GM Jim Nill had drawn a salary ceiling he's reluctant to push past for Robertson. That ceiling is reportedly the $12M Rantanen will collect through the 2032-33 season.
Word is Nill would prefer to retain the winger at a notably lower figure, more in the neighborhood of the $10.6M blueliner Thomas Harley starts collecting next year. With Robertson's representatives possibly angling nearer the $14M Seravalli cited, a substantial meeting in the middle will be required to keep him in Dallas.
Even so, recent reporting from ESPN's Emily Kaplan points to encouraging indications that a deal may be close, and it increasingly looks as though Robertson sticks around in Dallas. After the team's first-round playoff ouster, Nill himself stated at his end-of-year media session that locking up Robertson tops his to-do list for the offseason.
Due to hit 27 next month, Robertson piled up over 82 contests a year ago a 96-point line on 45 goals and 51 assists, slotting 10th leaguewide in scoring. For perspective, the skater one rung above, Edmonton's Leon Draisaitl with his 97-point total, will draw a circuit-best $14M next year.
Nill's apparent read on what Robertson is worth is probably shaped in part by how strapped for cash Dallas figures to be over the coming months. Even with the leaguewide ceiling set to reach $104M, the club projects to hold only a touch above $11M in space and has additional players it hopes to keep. Among those names sit the team's captain, Jamie Benn, and Michael Bunting and Adam Erne, along with Mavrik Bourque, Nathan Bastian, Alexander Petrovic, Arttu Hyry, Vladislav Kolyachonok, and Kyle Capobianco.
Should the sides come up short on terms, Dallas would be forced to mull dealing the one-time second-round selection, who'd command a crowded market of suitors prepared to give up premium assets. One such club is likely Washington, where GM Chris Patrick remains on the lookout for a difference-maker among his forwards.
The Caps own both the young talent and picks to pull off a sizable swap and the room to hand Robertson the deal he's seeking. By PuckPedia's projection, the franchise should be sitting on $31.4 million of available room entering 2026-27.
A rival could also put forward an offer-sheet bid for Robertson, since clubs know Dallas cannot keep pace once a contract climbs past a set ceiling. Prying him loose by that means, though, would presumably require clearing a figure of $11,939,166, a cost that would strip a club of four opening-round selections spread over the five drafts from 2027 onward, handed to Dallas as compensation.