Overview
- Reports on Monday say the Ottawa Senators are actively pursuing Jason Robertson and could use their new first-round picks to trade for him or present an offer sheet if no deal is struck.
- Robertson is a 26-year-old pending restricted free agent coming off 45 goals and 96 points and is widely expected to seek a long-term contract in the roughly $12 million-a-year range.
- The Stars have only about $10–11 million of projected cap space for 2026–27, and management is actively shopping depth contracts such as defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin ($3.25M AAV) and center Radek Faksa (~$2.0M) to create room.
- Dallas GM Jim Nill said talks with Robertson’s representatives are ‘good’ and there is ‘no real deadline,’ but arbitration rules and the July 1 RFA window compress the timeline for a resolution.
- If Dallas cannot match a big offer, analysts say a sign-and-trade or an offer sheet is the most likely path for Robertson to change teams, and any outcome would reshape Dallas’s short-term roster and Ottawa’s rebuild plan.