Dallas Stars: Tyler Seguin Extension Talks Showing Promise

The “Tyler Seguin Extension Watch” has taken center stage for the remainder of the Dallas Stars’ offseason trek. And from the sound of it, things once again look to be on the promising side.

In 24 days, the Dallas Stars will drop the puck on a new season. The 2018-19 campaign brings along plenty of hype, promise, and a fair dose of uncertainty with it for the team.

Some of that uncertainty comes from a new head coach with no NHL coaching experience. Another part of it is due to the lack of a major offseason addition and the glaring holes that ultimately helped cut the Stars’ 2017-18 campaign short.

And one final part of it has to do with the unknown future of center Tyler Seguin.

As of the morning of Monday, September 10, 2018, the Dallas Stars had not reached an agreement with Seguin on an extension. Now, that doesn’t necessarily signal the end of the world.

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Seguin still has one year left on his contract and seems focused, zoned in, and ready to put together a big year as he and the Stars try to claw their way back into the playoffs. So, it’s not a “life or death” situation for the franchise just yet.

But the fact that he hasn’t signed yet does raise some questions. After all, Dallas has had since July 1 to negotiate a new deal with him. It’s been over two months and there have been very few reports of anything significant happening related to the matter.

The need for the Dallas Stars to extend Seguin is pretty obvious, as most Stars fans already know. Seguin is a generational talent that is the true definition of what a no. 1 center should be. He’s a solid two-way player that can put up 35-40 goals a year, win a majority of his face-offs, use his outstanding vision and hockey IQ to make smart plays, serve on both the power play and penalty kill, and be the difference-maker in games. And he’s only 26 years old.

This isn’t a matter of “if” they will sign him to a long-term extension, but “when.” Without Seguin, the Stars have no defined no. 1 center in their organization. And without that, a team can never truly succeed.

After seeing the John Tavares story unfold this past summer and the NHL cap increase yet again, Seguin knows what kind of value his services can demand. So, what will he end up signing for? And when will the extension be finalized and announced?

There’s no doubt that Seguin will want long-term stability and an eight-year deal in his next contract. And there’s no reason that the Dallas Stars shouldn’t offer it to him. He’d be 35 by the time the deal runs out, which is just around the time when hockey players begin to regress. It’s almost too perfect of timing.

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In terms of the salary and cap hit, Seguin’s value is definitely upwards of $10 million. The Stars’ highest-paid player at the moment is captain Jamie Benn with a cap hit of $9.5 million. Giving a higher contract might come with some hesitancy for the Stars, but there’s a warranted argument.

When the free agency period opened, there wasn’t much discussion between the two sides. Reports of the two camps talking during the 2018 NHL Draft had surfaced, but they didn’t amount to anything over the first two or three weeks of July. Towards the end of the month, reports came out that the two were working consistently on a new deal, giving hope for the immediate future.

But at the end of August, Seguin vented his frustrations with the lack of negotiations while talking to the media at Biosteel camp. According to no. 91, there had been little to no talk between the two sides since the draft. Seguin’s hope was to have a new contract by the beginning of the season but had been “disappointed” with the lack of good news.

There’s still time, though. That cannot be forgotten. Opening night may seem to be just around the corner, but there are still over three weeks to get him locked down.

And at the moment, it looks as though things are once again trending in the right direction.

DallasStars.com Inside Edge reporter Mark Stepneski reported on Friday that the two sides have reignited talks about a new deal. With Seguin returning to the city of Dallas last week, there seems to be a renewed sense of communication.

“There’s good dialogue,” Nill told Stepneski. “I get back to that I am not going to negotiate in the media, so I am not going to say what’s going on. But there’s good movement on both sides.”