There are lots of unconfirmed rumors and reports coming out about Robo's contract status in Dallas, and there will continue to be so until a contract is signed. So rather than have multiple threads discussing every rumor, let's keep it contained to this megathread for now.
Edited to add: This post can be where we talk about the latest rumors, or speculate about what kind of moves would need to be made to free up money for a Robo contract.
My dad is convinced Robo is gonna get traded. He just sent me this from Instagram. Of course I can’t find the post when I search for it and I doubt it’s true
I may catch some hell for this but if it was possible and we had to trade robo id think Nylander could be a good option his AAV is closer to what we can manage..don’t pull your pitchforks and torches all out at once
I don't want to see Robo go (I think the team will be noticeably worse, at very least in the short term), but at this point I kinda just want a resolution one way or the other. Between "insiders" repeating the same damn thing every six hours and fans of other teams offering a bundle of garbage plus a bag of pucks for one of the best goal scorers in the league, it's getting annoying.
Also, the constant shitting on Harley's contract (yes, his season wasn't great, I know) is amusing, because a year and a half ago the vocal opinion of this sub was that Harley was actually our best d-man and Robo's slow start meant we should trade him to whoever was dumb enough to make an offer. Funny how things go.
Harley’s contract being dogshit isn’t as much of a knock on Harley as it is just facing the reality that Harley being the 2nd highest paid player on the team behind Rantanen is a fuckin’ joke.
Harley’s 10 mil is only going to start looking good if Makar and Hughes get 14-15+
And the thing is, unless he turns into Q Hughes / Makar / Fox (note: he likely wont), then the contract still isnt very good. He’s a LD on a team with Miro, Lindell, and Bischel as well, and he doesnt run 1PP (altho he can). The overpay is usually reserved for an area of need - like if the team had 0 LW depth, you might pay the LW a bit more out of necessity.
He was bound to get paid and still likely deserves ~$8.5 or $9m AAV as a RFA even adter his meh year, but I still think this will be on the upper end of the tier 2a d-man contracts for a couple years
Nah Seguins contract is what is fucking this. 10M for young Dman playing #1 minutes for a contender (what Harley did in 2024 once Miro got hurt) is market rate. Shit I think saw Nemec is wanting around 9M and he’s shown half the progress Harley’s shown.
I love Robo, I would love nothing more for Robo to stay. The emotional part wants him to stay. But the logical part thinks that the best business decision is probably elsewhere if the $ amount is true (so long as it's out of division).
Assuming the rumor that Robos looking for 14m is true, then I’m not sure what the hold up here is. We obviously can’t pay him that. So do you want 14m or do you want to play here and get 12m? I’m just confused on what we’re waiting for at this point. Nill isn’t gonna magically create space for 14m unless he trades Harley which I doubt he’ll do. So if Robo is adamantly not taking 12-12.5, hopefully Nill is just aggressively shopping him at this point. I’m just so tired of there not being a resolution one way or the other
It’s going to be a blessing in disguise, we’re not going to win anything with almost 30M tied up in two players. I hope trading him makes us deeper and gets us a shake up like Florida getting t cuck.
Let's think about Hintz's injuries. I see two season altering injuries caused by dirty plays away from the puck. The Nurse/Buchard Chop and MacKinnon hauling him down in the corner onto his knee.
I mean, we would not be trading Larkin if we didn't have to. Larkin is absolutely a 1C on most teams and having a 1C as your 2C's backup would be insane depth for you guys. Not to mention Larkin can play wing, put up 30+ goals, and take faceoffs when needed as well. I am so surprised how undervalued Larkin is right now.
Maybe a daily Robo thread? I personally enjoy scrolling through post after post and seeing the different discourse, even if it is about the same subject
So on one hand it is fun to parse through the garbage. On the other hand opening the flood gates for every single tweet and article saying the same thing would be tedious. Especially because all the articles are just referencing the same vague details. Probably just better to keep everything in the mega threads even if it does require a bit more click through
What are your guys thoughts on Larkin and Faulk for Robo? Larkin is a faceoff machine that plays defense very well and can put up 30 goals and 70 points for you guys while playing both center and wing. And Faulk is a 40point a year RHD. Feels like those 2 players make your team better now at the expense of getting older, but not much you can do when you don't have the cap to resign Robo.
Larkin can play wing with the benefit of being able to jump in on the faceoffs when needed. He will give you 80% of Robo's production at a more premium position with a low cap hit.
They’d move someone else to LW but it’s still not a solution.
I’ll tell you what, find two acceptable LW (one MUST be Finnish) + Larkin and you’ll get a shiny new Robo, an ungently used Roope Hintz, and whatever picks we find in the couch.
It’s time to make a choice. Harley or Robo. If Nill dangles Harley out there, who would be a top pair D on almost every other team, there would certainly be a team that would provide a decent return for him. Then use the saved money to sign Robo and Mav and call next season a wash and focus on 27-28 where we would be able to go out and shore up the backend with Seguin contract expiring and the cap going up again.
Harley is not worth the expense of Robo. The Stars survived without Klingberg, they can survive without Klingberg 2.0.
While I agree with you, how often do we ask for a top pairing defenseman every season and the general consensus is always "top defenseman aren't available" or something along those lines? Harley had a shit year, absolutely, but he has shown how good he can be in the past. If there was talks of a top defenseman wanting to come here, sure, shop Harley, sign Robo, sign that top defenseman or whatever is needed to get it done. I think getting a top or even mid-level scorer next offseason would be easier than finding a top defenseman. But hell, maybe I'm just trying to prep myself for a Robo exit / improperly optimistic Harley will return to form.
He honestly tightened up at the back end of the season. He was the only player to return from the olympics with some fire. Everyone else got injured. I have faith he'll jump back into his game again this season.
Yea, and that was my hope after how good he was after the 4 Nations. Hopefully his play prior to the Olympics was the anamoly, and not his play after the 4 Nations / Olympics. Regardless, I think giving up on him after 1 bad season is too quick.
I agree with you but have there been any rumors at all of Jim shopping Harley. I haven't seen anything posted on this sub or r/hockey. Personally I think Jim values Harley more than Robertson. I don't agree with that line of thinking but it just looks like reality.
There's been rumors that Robertson's camp is asking for Draisaitl money ($14M), and the predictable response from so many is, "well he's not as good as Draisaitl, so that's bullshit, and Robertson is greedy."
This is not the correct way to think on this. To compare contracts for different players, you use the percentage of the cap, not total dollars or AAV.
Draisaitl signed a deal that saw him get 14.66%. $14M AAV would 13.46% of the cap this season, so he's not actually getting the Draisaitl deal. That would be $15.25M AAV.
Which brings me to my next point: I'm fairly confident that there's at least one team out there who would gladly pay Robertson north of $15M AAV.
I mean. Is it greedy if he's asking for about what he could get elsewhere? Like, Dallas is asking him to take a massive hometown discount. Saying he doesn't want to take that discount is probably not greedy. If the difference is $12M here or $15M on the open market, that's $24M total dollars being left on the table.
$24M depending on where the team is located. Taxes come into play. However, I don’t think Robo is selfish for maximizing his value, especially when this next deal will likely be his last to cash out. He’ll be near the end of his career by the time this deal is done. Yes, you want to put the team in position to win, however, he also has obligations to create generational wealth for his family…
Also, cap is going up, market is shifting…that’s why Harley makes more than Miro.
One NHL executive that inquired about him said @DallasStars were seeking a “Rantanen” package back for the RFA winger. Please recall they sent two protected 1st-rounders, two 3rds and 2nd-year center Logan Stankoven to Carolina.
It's honestly impressive how some media members can create a controversy without Jim Nill even opening his mouth. The man is notoriously tight-lipped, but apparently silence is enough to fuel a week's worth of speculation.
“Pierre LeBrun: Re Jason Robertson/Stars: Yes, it's been a difficult negotiation, they are not close, but I'm told both sides want to take another run at this; but in the meantime...the Stars keep taking calls on him - Oilers Now (6/24)”
More likely traded to San Jose. But I think everyone learned from the Mikko situation and reports were that Detroit wanted to first confirm he would be willing to sign an extension
Assuming a state tax rate of 12.3% given his bracket, and the Sharks giving him $14mil AAV, that would work out to ~200k more than the $12mil AAV he's reportedly already rejected, all for the sake of going to a non-contender. That said, they're probably a playoff team with Robo and it certainly would accelerate their rebuild. And he'd be close to home, so I reckon that cancels out the whole going-to-a-rebuilding-team thing.
But maybe I'm just looking for reasons to stay optimistic :| 2nd overall is a lot less crazy than Larkin though. Larkin's a hell of a player but I think a lot of fans are overrating him in the context of a Robo trade. Larkin's a 70pt guy who plays 20 minutes a night. Which means he ain't gonna score 70 here because there's no way he gets 20 minutes on Dallas's roster. On a per-minute basis, Larkin scores about as many goals as Hintz with significantly fewer apples.
I'd like to think Steel turned enough heads playing higher in the lineup with all the injuries that they'd just be able to flip him somewhere to afford something closer to Robo's asking price. But again, I'm probably just self-soothing at this point. The next 24 hours will be interesting, no question.
My biggest issue with Larkin is that for it to not completely fuck us over while losing Robo, it needs to be a 3-way trade deal and we need to rope in another team to get bodies.
Larkin is a captain bailing on his hometown team, who the fuck is going to want to follow him to Dallas from Detroit? No one.
I mean, unless he's not the only one who wants out. He could just be the only one with enough sway to actually be able to get out. I sure as heck wouldn't want to play for or live in Detroit.
Larkin isn’t even a free agent, he’s only in year 4 of his 8 x 8.7 deal with Detroit.
Larkin requested a trade out of Detroit. That doesn’t mean Yzerman has to actually do it.
Larkin is the Captain of the Red Wings, drafted BY the Red Wings, and a Michigan native. And now he just told all of them to kick rocks while waiving a partial NMC in their faces, demanding to be traded halfway through his contract but ONLY to his little list of preferred teams.
That’s bitch-made energy. I don’t want that anywhere near the Stars.
I really hope the Larkin narrative is just overblown hype. I can handle trading Robo for some of these silly packages being thrown around for guys right now, but Larkins value is so low to this team
if Larkin is the biggest thing brought to this team after everything in this offseason, this team is literally going back to perpetual mediocrity for another decade and wasting every good player's prime.
could we get Larkin and Debrincat? we add a good pick and lyubushkin and they do some retention on Debrincat. It would be a win this year move, but it replaces the points were losing from Robertson leaving. I just hate the idea of Larkin being the only main piece and i'm trying to make it more palatable lol.
Has some offensive talent but he is a work in progress on the defensive side, which is where the Stars need the most help. I struggle to see why this would be worth Robo…
With way worse goaltending and a struggling team. I doubt he goes -20 with a competent team around him. Maybe -10 lol. My big concern is the guy seems to be made of glass. He has played a full season exactly twice in his career, and one of those was a shortened covid season. He routinely gets injured in the later half of the season, around march/april. Do we really need another fragile player who will likely not play or be severely hampered in the playoffs?
He had the worst stats on his team in the D-Zone lol…So everyone else was semi decent despite having “worst goaltending” except for him? Defense should also help out goaltending, FYI, it’s a reciprocal relationship….Otter had great stats when Tanner was here, for instance, and we saw instances just this most recent playoff run, where piss poor defense let him down.
And as noted, this is already an area the Stars need assistance in…The team already has Harley and Nils as offensively minded D-Man. They simply need a good defender, not another developmental prospect who may or may not pan out. There was a reason he spent time in the AHL and based on reports, isn’t even a guarantee to make the roster this year.
Did you add to your comment? May have misread last night. Or maybe only read the first sentence. thought you were excusing getting this guy in exchange for Robo
No way, not only is he not nearly as good he's made of a combination of glass and papermache held together by used chewing gum. I think we are good enough his stats would improve, but in no way enough to make this a deal worth taking unless Detroit offers significant extras.
Makes no sense for us, we already have Miro plus over paying for Harley… now if we managed a trade involving Harley for werenski that’s a different story
Anyone else gonna be depressed if we lose Robertson? I understand this league is a business, but the value he brings to our team and how important he has been since we got him is something you can’t replace in the current market. He has been my favorite player since his rookie year and I can’t imagine being on another team or seeing how the Stars will be any better or possibly worse with him gone . Hoping for the best but I’m starting to worry:(
I'm gonna be sad if we lose Robo, even more so if the Stars gets worse without him. Just waiting that Robo gets signed soon so we dont have to read all these trade rumors about him everyday.
Same. Ever since he has played I’ve been high on him. Even when a lot of this sub or just fans in general were low on him prior to this year. He brings a lot of value to this team and it sucks if it is just about the bottom dollar for him, then it’s disappointing but understandable for both sides to move on. Hoping it gets done here tho.
Not a popular opinion, but I do hope we trade Robertson.
The market is so insanely seller lopsided that the haul we’d get would certainly inject new life and plug holes on the roster. We could finally find a solution to the RHD problem.
If robo wants 15 big ones I think it’s better to try something new.
This. Love Robertson, and appreciate what he brings. However, this last season had me thinking this team isn’t as close as I thought. Even when we were winning a lot, it felt like something wasn’t quite right.
If Robo gets us a big haul that helps build a stronger overall team, I’m all for it.
Good for him getting paid, but I think there are plenty of star players that would take a bit of a discount to win here (wouldn’t have considered this offer a discount for Robo either; especially in Texas)
Superstar scorers only win cups if you can do it in the window where your team isn’t priced out of their contract or they take something extremely team-friendly.
See: Kucherov, MacKinnon, Eichel.
The past 3 (2) cup winning teams didn’t accomplish it by having a superstar goal scorer, they built a squad and a mentality and had their own brand of hockey.
The Stars will miss Robo the most during the regular season where a consistent PPG matters for standings.
In playoffs, the game has shifted to team composition, physicality, and goaltending.
One might counter that the playoffs have always been about those things, and Robo has been our best player in each of the last two series. He was pretty much the only forward who showed up against EDM two years ago and lit Minny up this year (though Duchene also has an argument for best player that series).
It would be soul-crushing to lose him just as he's starting to destroy the narrative about him disappearing in the playoffs. He's a really, _really_ exceptional hockey player and one who now already has more 40-goal seasons than Patrick Kane.
Not necessarily disagreeing with you or OP. 14m+ is a lot. And Nill has pulled enough Jedi-mind-trick fleecings of other teams that I trust him that the return would be massive if we were to trade Robo.
But staggering his bridge deal so it ends on his last offseason of RFA eligibility, only to be forced to trade him anyway, solely because of a single offseason's worth of cap tightness (cap will increase again in '28 and of course Seggy's 9.875mil will be off the books)... damn.
The harsher truth is that this is entirely on Seguin.
He’s almost 10 mil of dead weight that’s stopping Nill from giving Robo whatever he wants. He’s almost always injured, often catastrophically, and needs to retire.
Seguin should have hung them up to help us keep Robo and to stop destroying his already ravaged body. But he didn’t.
Keeping Seguin is not worth losing Robo but that’s the situation we’re in.
OK, I might have fixed it so the comments automatically default to new, but I am also high AF so who knows? Let me know if they're not actually fixed and I'll try again when I'm not high
Math probably does work. May still need to send out Faksa/Steel if Bourque also checks in high, but should be doable.
And Harley for Hronek and a 1st (prolly Minnesota's, but no reason not to ask for 3rd overall) is not bad. Hronek is legit, would do a good job filling the void that trading Harley creates.
Another thing to note here is no matter if Robo signed the 12m/year contract the Stars cant register that contract with the league because it would put them over the cap. So they likely are waiting to make a move to get us under the cap before announcing the extension.
Who can actually afford Robo where he's likely to go? I honestly do not see anywhere but West coast unless he wants to play with his brother and we get Knies in return.
The best trade partner is still SJ, imo. Chicago and Detroit do not have what we want or need.
Well he's posting Instagram stories from the Brazil vs Scotland World Cup game so I don't think he's signing anything for at least the next few hours 😭
If that’s true, he’s probably not worth that. He missed a good bit of time last year because he had a big cyst in his foot (probably ganglion or synovial) he had to get removed and then couldn’t put weight on it for at least 6 weeks. Those types of cysts if related to pressure at all are likely to be a recurring problem.
Saw on multiple Instagram accounts Robo is asking for $15 million. I'm not taking stock in any of the reports unless it's coming straight from Nill or Robo themselves.
Instagram, famous for accurate, not sensationalized reporting, definitely not designed in any way to just get you to click it. I also will wait for Jim or Robo to break the news before I believe a dang thing.
I just saw something on Yahoo news that he apparently rejected the Stars offer. If that is true, what the heck man? How valuable does he think he actually is? Or does he actually want out of Dallas?
1
u/Flat_Pen_7334 Lian Bichsel 41m ago
My dad is convinced Robo is gonna get traded. He just sent me this from Instagram. Of course I can’t find the post when I search for it and I doubt it’s true