NHL Rumor Roundup: What Next For The Wild? How Will Stars Fit In Robertson's Next Contract?
The Minnesota Wild's second-round elimination by the Colorado Avalanche may have stung more than their string of first-round exits of recent years.
Led by scoring stars Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy, with a blueline anchored by superstar Quinn Hughes and rising star Brock Faber, with a solid goalie tandem of Filip Gustavsson and Jesper Wallstedt, the Wild's Stanley Cup window seemed to be opening.
Instead, the Avalanche swiftly slammed it shut for this season in five games.
ESPN.com's Ryan S. Clark believes Wild GM Bill Guerin will have a busy summer. With $13.5 million in salary-cap space, Guerin must re-sign or replace several pending UFA-eligible players while trying to bolster his roster for next season.
Post-Mortem: Minnesota Wild Reminded They Aren't Cup Front-Runners Yet
Despite a blockbuster trade for Quinn Hughes and a dominant opening round against the Dallas Stars, the Minnesota Wild's Stanley Cup dreams vanished. What comes next?
In Dallas, Stars GM Jim Nill will have to make a cost-cutting trade or two if he hopes to sign high-scoring left winger Jason Robertson to a contract extension.
The 26-year-old Robertson is an RFA with arbitration rights on July 1 and is also a year away from UFA eligibility. He's completed a four-year contract with an average annual value of $7.75 million, and he could seek a deal similar to teammate Mikko Rantanen's eight-year contract worth an average annual value of $12 million.
Nill has indicated that re-signing Robertson is a priority. Lia Assimakopoulos of The Dallas Morning Newspointed out the Stars have around $11 million in cap space, which isn't enough to re-sign Robertson and leave enough to fill out the remainder of the roster.
Assimakopoulos suggested forwards Radek Faksa, Sam Steel and defensemen Ilya Lyubushkin and Tyler Myers as trade candidates. Faksa is signed through 2027-28 with an average annual value of $2 million; Steel has a year left with a cap hit of $2.1 million; Lyubushkin has a year at $3.25 million remaining, and Myers has a year left at $1.5 million.
All of those players wouldn't be traded, but one or two could be peddled to clear space for Robertson's next deal.
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This story was originally published May 15, 2026 at 8:24 AM.