tbl-Lightning Morning News: Stars And Robertson Come To An Agreement
Raw Charge
One of the biggest stories of the off-season came to a resolution. Kind of. The Dallas Stars and restricted free agent Jason Robertson have agreed to a new contract for next season. Just next season. It’s a one-year deal with a $12 million cap hit. When the deal expires on June 30, Robertson will be an unrestricted free agent. He will be eligible for an extension as of January 1, so expect the trade/contract talk to ramp back up right around that time, especially if the Stars are struggling. It’s been a rough negotiation between the two sides, to the point that Dallas had worked out a trade with Seattle that fell through when Robertson declined a long-term deal with the Kraken that reportedly would have netted him $15 million a season. Dallas isn’t out of the woods just yet. With Robertson under contract they are slightly more than a million dollars over the salary cap. The dragged out negotiations also indirectly led to them having to move young forward Mavrik Bourque to Nashville earlier this month. He has since signed a five-year deal with a $5.5 million AAV. Robertson’s arbitration hearing was set for July 25 so this gives the two sides some more time to iron out a longer-term deal. Hockey News Utah signs John Marino to long-term contract [ Deseret News ] The Mammoth locked in one of their top defensemen with an eight-year, $82.25 million contract. With the clock ticking on eight-year deals (as of September the max term will be seven years for staying with the same team and six years when a player signs with a new team) it will be interesting how many more we see over the next two months. Jet Greaves and Columbus Blue Jackets exchange arbitration numbers [ Sportsnet ] The Blue Jackets and Jet Greaves have wildly different ideas about how much the goaltender will be paid next season. They still have a couple of days to work things out as the arbitration hearing isn’t until Thursday, but there is a $4.7 million chasm between the two sides. Columbus filed at $2.8 million while Greaves is at $7.5 million. There is a good chance they will come to an agreement somewhere in the middle before entering the meeting room. Once the hearing starts the arbitrator has to choose one of the two numbers. Which NHL Draft year makes the best line-up of players traded for first-round picks [ The Athletic ] This is Sean McIndoe’s time of year to shine. The quirky writer spent quite a bit of time looking up trades to find out which draft year could boost the best line-up of players traded for first-round picks. The answer – 2026. Which isn’t a surprise since first-rounders were being swapped like hockey cards over the past few seasons. The Lightning placed one player on the roster – Yanni Gourde. Rangers hiring Quick, Brassard in player development roles [ SNY ] The recently retired Jonathan Quick is joining the Rangers front office as director of goaltending development while Derick Brassard will be a player development assistant. NHL unveils new centralized production for club regional broadcasts [ NHL ] With the demise of the FanDuel Sports Network, several NHL teams were left without regional broadcast agreements. This year the NHL is going to step in and provide centralized production for the Hurricanes, Blue Jackets, Wild, and Blues. The teams will still need to find a way to broadcast the games via cable or over-the-air channels as well as streaming options.