Stars are Listening on Jason Robertson, But Looking to Move Other Players Instead
Dave Pagnotta of the Fourth Period: Pagnotta writes that Dallas Stars GM Jim Nill is getting calls about the status of Jason Robertson. Robertson has one year left on his deal at $7.5 million. The Stars are in a cap crunch as they look to re-sign Jamie Benn, Mikael Granlund, and potentially Matt Duchene. Though, as Duchene has stated, he is looking for more stability on his next contract. He is no longer looking for one-year deals.
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Dallas has about $4.5 million in cap space. But outside of Robertson, whom they are reluctant to trade, unless the price is right. That price has to be a blow-away offer; the other names that will help them do that are Mason Marchment, Matt Dumba, and Ilya Lyubushkin. Marchment has a 10-time no-trade clause, so it will be interesting to see where he ends up.
But the Dallas Stars are looking to clear cap space by the NHL Draft in Los Angeles. Jim Nill has work to do, including finding a new head coach.
Could Maverick Bourque or Matt Dumba Also Be in Play for the Dallas Stars
Dave Pagnotta of the Fourth Period joined Steve Kouleas and Martin Biron during his regular Wednesday spot on Sirius XM NHL Network Radio and discussed the Dallas Stars, exploring options to clear cap space instead of moving Robertson.
** NHLRumors.com transcriptions
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Dave Pagnotta on Sirius XM NHL Network Radio: “Everybody understands where the Stars are financially and how cap-strapped they are. They’ve got less than $5 million, just under $5 million, in cap space to play with, and they want to sign, they’ve been saying they want to sign Jamie Benn to a new deal. How’s that going to look? They are going to either have to sign Duchene or replace them in some fashion. That’s going to require some money. They’ve got a few other pieces that they’ve got to get done.
Mavrick Bourque is an RFA. He’s going to be a target from some other teams with respect to, I know Marty loves this, the offer sheet business, so that might a target there. But so they’re looking to create additional cap space, and teams have called and reached out to see what the price tag is for Jason Robertson. Now, every indication that I’ve been given to this point is that there’s a strong reluctance to move him. If they have to, then that’s okay. It’s going to take a hell of a package to make it happen.
It does sound speaking to a number of people around the league. Mason Marchment’s name is out there. They are listening there. Some teams have described him as being actively available. He’s got a $4.5 million cap, yet that would alleviate a lot of financial pressure from the Stars to get additional work done if they move him out.
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I also heard Matt Dumba’s name out there. I think he’s got a $3.5 million cap hit. So the preference is to keep Robertson, but if their backs are against the wall, it’s an option that they’re looking at in terms of at least the possibility of freeing up those types of dollars.
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