Bourque\u2019s sophomore season saw him improve from 25 points to 41, thanks to 20 goals and 21 assists while his playing time jumped up by nearly three minutes per contest.\u00a0 He went from being more of a depth player to a relied-on second liner along the way and top-six players tend to be rewarded handsomely should things get to a hearing.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s where things get difficult.\u00a0 Dallas doesn\u2019t want to take Bourque to arbitration and run the risk of a higher award than they can afford with their current salary cap structure.\u00a0 On the other hand, if they wait to sign him and focus on Jason Robertson<\/a>, he becomes a threat for an offer sheet given that Dallas only has $10MM in cap room, per PuckPedia<\/a>.<\/p>\n Using this summer\u2019s offer sheet thresholds<\/a>, a team could plausibly try to sign Bourque to a short-term deal worth $4.77MM per season and only be required to surrender a second-round pick in return.\u00a0 That\u2019s plausibly higher than he could receive in arbitration and much higher than the Stars could conceivably match with Robertson\u2019s contract looming as well.<\/p>\n Accordingly, that sets an artificial deadline for Dallas to try to get something done.\u00a0 Basically, June 30th becomes the last date for \u2018safe talks\u2019.\u00a0 After that, an offer sheet could be in play, or salary arbitration if either side decides to file.\u00a0 That gives them about three weeks to figure something out and protect themselves from a potentially undesirable situation later on.<\/p>\n Re-Sign Robertson<\/p>\n Let\u2019s move on to the big one now, that being Robertson\u2019s contract.\u00a0 Back in 2022, Dallas didn\u2019t have a ton of cap flexibility (it\u2019s somewhat of an ongoing theme for them) and opted for a rare four-year bridge deal, one that gave Robertson a huge raise off his entry-level deal but kept his salary below market value for a little while longer.\u00a0 But it was structured in such a way to land him a pricier deal at its expiration with a $9.3MM qualifying offer that carries arbitration rights.<\/p>\n There\u2019s also an arbitration risk here.\u00a0 Because he\u2019s only a year away from being eligible to test the open market, he\u2019s only eligible for a one-year award regardless of who files.\u00a0 Accordingly, if contract talks (which are almost certainly ongoing now) don\u2019t go well, Robertson could opt to just go through the hearing, get what he gets, and then have even more leverage a year from now as a high-end pending UFA.\u00a0 That puts a bit of a pressure point on talks now, even though they don\u2019t have enough cap space to re-sign Robertson at this point.\u00a0 But it\u2019s a file they have to close with a long-term agreement, keeping a star winger in the fold for the long haul.<\/p>\n Clear Cap Space<\/p>\n Now that we\u2019ve looked at who needs to be signed, let\u2019s get the obvious out of the way.\u00a0 If Robertson is going to cost more than their current cap room, and Bourque needs to be signed, then something has to give.\u00a0 Someone (or more than just one) will need to move.\u00a0 Arttu Hyry<\/a> also needs a new deal while it wouldn\u2019t be shocking if they want to bring Jamie Benn<\/a> back on what would probably have to be another bonus-laden agreement.<\/p>\n The problem is that there aren\u2019t a lot of obvious candidates.\u00a0 Tyler Seguin<\/a> is entering the final year of his deal at $9.85MM but he\u2019s coming off ACL surgery which doesn\u2019t help his value, nor does his full no-move clause.\u00a0 Even if he was open to being dealt, the list might not be too long, and the fact he hasn\u2019t played since December will make the acquiring team more hesitant.\u00a0 The potential saving grace is that once his $5.75MM signing bonus paid, he\u2019s only owed $1MM in salary.\u00a0 At that point, if the acquiring team is just eating the contract, any lingering concerns about his availability to start the season would go out the window.\u00a0 Dallas would likely have to incentivize a team to take him but if it keeps Robertson and Bourque in the fold (and allow them to re-sign Benn at the same time), they\u2019d probably do it.<\/p>\n The problem is that this might be the end of the list.\u00a0 Their other top-paid players aren\u2019t ones they\u2019d want to move.\u00a0 Matt Duchene<\/a> has a full no-move clause and probably isn\u2019t going to want to move.\u00a0 Esa Lindell<\/a> has a full no-trade clause and, frankly, is too valuable on the back end to consider moving.\u00a0 Basically, anyone else making more than $4MM isn\u2019t a viable trade candidate.\u00a0 Considering they need more than that in cap space, that makes things tricky.<\/p>\n Moving Ilya Lyubushkin<\/a> at $3.25MM for the limited role he fills would save some money although they\u2019d need a replacement body so the net savings might be closer to $2MM.\u00a0 Radek Faksa<\/a>\u2019s $2MM AAV could be too expensive of a luxury but, again, with a replacement body needed, the actual savings might barely be half of that.\u00a0 Those two moves would help a bit but probably aren\u2019t enough to accomplish everything that they need to.<\/p>\n Nill knows what needs to be done in terms of cutting down their cap charge.\u00a0 Despite few viable options, he needs to find a way to get it done.<\/p>\n Look For A Defensive Upgrade<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/USATSI_25429315-200x300.jpg\")
<\/a>The 26-year-old provided fantastic value on the contract.\u00a0 Robertson hit the 80-point mark in all four seasons with the first and last years being his best.\u00a0 In the former, he finished sixth in NHL scoring with 109 points thanks to 46 goals and 63 assists.\u00a0 Then, after putting up two straight 80-point campaigns, he bounced back offensively this season, tallying 45 goals along with 51 helpers before adding eight points in their opening-round exit to Colorado.\u00a0 Over the last four years, only eight players have recorded more points.\u00a0 Only one of those, Nikita Kucherov<\/a>, has an AAV below $11MM (and that might change before much longer).\u00a0 With only one RFA year left, this next contract will almost exclusively feature the full-priced UFA-eligible seasons, making an $11MM AAV look like an absolute minimum.\u00a0 AFP Analytics projects<\/a> he could come close to the $12MM mark on a seven-year pact.\u00a0 As a reminder, they don\u2019t have that much cap space to work with.<\/p>\n