Dallas GM hopes to retain Jason Robertson
The Dallas Stars made a splash last year by acquiring Mikko Rantanen from the Carolina Hurricanes at the trade deadline. Dallas general manager Jim Neal, who won his third consecutive Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award, signed Lantarn to an eight-year contract extension with a cap hit of $12 million.
Once that happened, rumors began to surface about Jason Robertson being shipped out of town because the Stars couldn’t make the money work under the salary cap. However, despite the slow progress of negotiations, Neale is adamant that he wants to keep Robertson. This is his goal.
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Neal reiterated the fact that he wants to re-sign Robertson since he just signed Rantanen, he told Scott Oak after hours on Hockey Night in Canada after the Stars lost 3-2 in a shootout to the Calgary Flames.
“Yeah, that’s the plan. We’ll find a way to do it. We always find a way. These are great players. It’s hard to find goal scorers, and that’s what I said when I talked to Jason in the summer. He had a rough year the year before. He missed all training camp, had a slow start. So that’s what we talked about this summer. Come in, I hope you have a good year. It’s an Olympic year and he’s got a lot going on as well, and he’s performing for us, which is great.”
Robertson became a restricted free agent with the Dallas Stars this summer. So Neil wasn’t worried because he was controllable. This season, Robertson has 28 points (13 goals and 15 assists) in 22 games. Over the past seven games, Robertson has 15 points (10 goals, 5 assists).
So, expect Jim Neal to work his magic and lock up Robertson long-term as Dallas sees him as a core piece moving forward.
The table is so tight, no deals
With the Eastern Conference standings so tight and no team truly out, don’t expect too much from the Buffalo Sabers on a move, as 4th Quarter’s Dave Pagnotta told Scott Laughlin and Gord Stellick on Sirius XM NHL Network Monday morning when asked about the trade market and Buffalo.
Transcribed by NHLRumors.com
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Dave Pannotta: “Like you said, I mean, things are pretty tight in the East right now. I mean, Toronto is the last one and they’re, what, four points away from a playoff spot? The Sabers and the (New York) Rangers are also tied at 22. Three. Like, everything is tight right now. So there’s a certain level of feeling that no one’s out. No one feels like they’re out, even though some markets might fall one day and they’re winning the next day, and it’s like, oh, you know what? Maybe that’s not that bad.
So no one feels like they’re completely out of the woods yet. Here’s why a lot is happening with Buffalo’s Alex Tuch, will they sign him? Will they try to move him? what happens? It’s still early in the season for the Sabers, and at the quarter-point mark, they still want to see what they’ve got. Can they go for a run? Can they piece things together? Can they build on what UPL and (Tage) Thompson are doing, et cetera? “
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