Why Arbitration Is Good for Jason Robertson
Jason Robertson's decision to file for arbitration may sound like bad news, but it could actually be the best outcome for both him and the Dallas Stars.The DLLS Stars crew breaks down why arbitration isn't necessarily a sign that negotiations have fallen apart, how the process could help both sides reach common ground, and why fans shouldn't panic just yet. The crew also explains what arbitration means for the Stars' salary cap, roster construction, and the timeline for getting Robertson back under contract.
Video Transcript
My take on Jason Robertson is, as we talked about all this, h- it can't be done.
In a weird way, actually going to an arbitration hearing might work for the Dallas Stars and for Jason Robertson.
I think Robo, because he's not a 22 or 23-year-old NHL player, right?
He's, he's a little older.
He's still in his prime, of course.
I think he's a little bit more mature and he can probably handle the He may not like hearing why he doesn't deserve big money, but I think he could probably handle it better than a player that's maybe a younger RFA.
But what it does is, let's say that they go to the hearing and don't make a settlement beforehand, and now there's plenty of reporting that the Stars are either gonna sign or trade Robo before that happens.
Here's why this weirdly works.
He gets a one-year deal.
The Stars can palate it.
What if it comes in at 11.5 because it's an arbitration number and it's less than we thought?
The Stars will be like, "Yeah, we can do that."
He would be eligible to sign an extension on January 1st.
What happens next year?
Seguin's money comes off the books.
We don't know if Tyler wants to play beyond that.
We don't know if his body will hold up.
But they have that, and the cap goes up again, and it's gonna probably go up again after that as we hear, you know, rumors of Houston expansion or maybe possibly Austin.
We all know they're building a building in Atlanta.
There's some other cha- Things are going well for the NHL as a league.
The Stars can palate a big Jason Robertson contract next year and beyond a lot easier than this year.
So in a weird way, Luds, while almost every team and l- and player and agent tries to avoid arbitration because it usually ends poorly, Jeremy Swayman went through it and learned a lot, but also had some hard feelings before his next contract negotiation, and we saw a lot of public stuff.
What was it?
60, 66 or 64 million reasons or whatever the number was.
This might actually work.
They could actually get a one-year deal.
He's still, he knows he's gonna be a free agent.
The s- He's playing well.
The Stars can negotiate January 1st, give him a big deal, and we all get what we want, strangely enough.
I will rebut.
Please.
But it actually might not work.
That's very true.
I mean, it sounds like it may work, and it doesn't work, and if it doesn't work, I don't know what Jim Nill does.
I, you know, I, I just Again, I, I just think that Robo, I mean, just me speaking out loud and seeing what Well, I guess that's the only way we should talk on this show is we should speak out loud.
Yes.
Speaking quietly probably doesn't work well.
Yeah.
Um- But by, by all accounts of all the other players in the league, Robo deserves to be above 12 million.
From- Yep when you're, when you're talking about the consistency that he scores goals at, for And, and you're, you're If you're, if you're making a move for Jason Robertson, when, regardless of what the arbitrator's gonna say, what Nill and Jenko and all, all these guys are gonna say, he, he's, he's not gonna win a Selkie, okay?
He's not here to win a Selkie.
No.
No.
He's here to win a scoring title or to be that guy.
And so I, I think you Again, there, there's 25, 26, 28 other teams that would love to have him on, on their team, right?
Because- So many teams want Jason Robertson right now because, and the other, the other biggest, the thing that we never talk about is how many points, like how many points were collected last year by some teams that probably got in the playoffs because of shootout wins?
This guy's automatic.
Great point.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know?
So now you're thinking, "Just if we go to the shootout and we got this guy on our team, that's, that's another three or four points maybe, or maybe five that we can put in the bank that gets us into a playoff position."
