Stars re-sign Duchene on four-year, $18 million contract
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The Dallas Stars have re-signed forward Matt Duchene on a four-year, $18 million contract.
Duchene, who will carry a cap hit of $4.5 million under the new deal, was previously scheduled to reach unrestricted free agency on July 1. The deal includes a full no-move clause in the first two years and a five-team approved trade list in the final two years, TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun reports.
“We are thrilled to have Matt back with our organization,” Stars general manager Jim Nill said in a team release. “As our team’s leading scorer last season, he helped to solidify our forward group while also providing invaluable leadership off the ice and in the community.
"The fit with Matt and our team has been seamless from the start, and we’re looking forward to continuing to pursue our shared goal of bringing a championship to Dallas.”
Duchene, 34, recorded 30 goals and 82 points in 82 games with the Dallas Stars last season. He added a goal and six points in 18 playoff games before his team was eliminated by the Edmonton Oilers in the Western Conference Final.
The 5-foot-11 centre spent the past two seasons in Dallas playing under one-year, $3 million contracts. He stated his desire to re-sign once again after the team's playoff exit.
“I believe in this group and want to be here,” Duchene said.
Drafted third overall by the Colorado Avalanche in 2009, Duchene has 371 goals and 891 points in 1,138 career games split between the Avalanche, Ottawa Senators, Columbus Blue Jackets, Nashville Predators, and Stars.
The Haliburton, Ont., native represented Canada at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Russia, taking home a gold medal. He also represented his country six times at the World Championship, winning gold in 2015 and 2016 and silver in 2017.
The signing leaves the Stars less than $500,000 in cap space with 17 players signed, per Puckpedia. Jamie Benn, Evgenii Dadonov, Mikael Granlund, Colin Blackwell, Cody Ceci and Brendan Smith are all pending unrestricted free agents, while Mavrik Bourque and Nils Lundqvist in need of new deals as restricted free agents.
The Stars also remain without a head coach after firing Peter DeBoer following a third straight loss in the Western Conference Finals.