Dallas Stars
Stars 2026-27 Season Preview: The Deepest Roster in the Central, and a Clock on Jason Robertson
Dallas has the most complete roster in the toughest division in hockey. It also has a countdown running underneath the season, and everyone in the organization knows it.
The Robertson problem
Jason Robertson re-signed for one year.
That’s the whole story in a sentence. A one-year deal walks Robertson directly into unrestricted free agency next summer, which means the Stars have twelve months to either extend him or decide what he’s worth in trade.
There’s a recent template nobody in Dallas wants to think about: Colorado traded Mikko Rantanen midseason rather than let a star walk. The Stars now face the same fork — move him at the deadline, or play the season out with the threat of free agency hanging over it.
One other possibility floated around the organization: waiting for Tyler Seguin’s contract to come off the books and then signing Robertson to a long-term deal. That would be the clean outcome. It also requires patience from a player with leverage.
However it resolves, that decision will shape the 2026-27 campaign more than any on-ice development.
The roster is the division’s best on paper
In goal: Jake Oettinger, who is playing for something beyond Dallas — he entered this cycle chasing the No. 1 job for the United States at the Milano Cortina Olympics, and carrying the memory of a painful playoff exit.
On defense: Miro Heiskanen and Thomas Harley, arguably two legitimate No. 1 defensemen, and the flexibility to deploy them on separate pairs rather than stacking them.
Down the middle: Roope Hintz and Wyatt Johnston lead a genuinely deep center group.
On the wing: Mikko Rantanen, one of the best in the league.
That’s a contender’s spine. It’s why Dallas keeps being picked to win the Central and keeps not quite finishing the job.
Last season ended early
The Stars finished second in the Central and were eliminated in six games by Minnesota in the first round — the Wild’s first series win since 2014-15, achieved largely by dominating Dallas at even strength. Minnesota outscored them 17-5 at five-on-five and beyond over the series.
For a roster built to win now, losing a first round to a team that hadn’t advanced in a decade is the kind of result that shortens patience.
The cap situation
Dallas remains over the salary cap, which means another move is coming — forward Sam Steel has been mentioned as a candidate to go.
The Stars already sent young center Mavrik Bourque to Nashville this summer, one of several internal division trades that reshaped the Central’s middle tier. Nashville also picked up Jack Drury and Ross Colton from Colorado.
Being cap-strapped in August is manageable. Being cap-strapped in February, when a contending roster wants to add rather than subtract, is the harder version of the problem.
The division is a bloodbath
Colorado won the Presidents’ Trophy and retooled rather than reloaded. Minnesota extended Kirill Kaprizov at $17 million and traded for Quinn Hughes. Winnipeg still has Connor Hellebuyck, the best goaltender in the world, though his long-term future with the franchise is an open question.
Four teams can win the Central. Dallas is one of them and has been for several years running.
What success looks like
Not a division title — a deep playoff run. This roster’s window is measured in seasons, not decades, and the core has now had several cracks at getting over the hump.
The markers:
– Resolve Robertson, before February if possible.
– Get under the cap without weakening the top six.
– Oettinger in the playoffs. The talent has never been the question.
– Win a round. Last April was the floor. Anything short of a longer run this spring makes the Robertson decision much harder.
The NHL’s move to an 84-game schedule adds two more games of wear on a roster that needs to be healthy in April. That’s the tax on a long season for a team whose entire case is what it can do afterward.
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