8 Trade Landing Spots for Jason Robertson Amid NHL Rumors

It's been a tough time to be a Dallas Stars fan the past week or so.

They didn't just get booted from the Western Conference Final for the third straight season, they were ousted in five games by the same team that KO'd them last year, the Edmonton Oilers.

There was also the whole thing with Jake Oettinger getting pulled minutes into the final game, something that also put the spotlight on head coach Pete DeBoer and why he did that in the first place.

Those are all tough things to stomach, but the latest thing the Stars have to worry about is whether now is the time to trade superstar winger Jason Robertson.

Jeff Marek teased the idea in a recent blog at Daily Faceoff. And with the 25-year-old heading into the final year of his contract next season, the idea makes sense.

Robertson's $7.75 million cap hit is very affordable, and the Stars are set to be pressed up against the salary cap already despite the fact that it's going up to $95.5 million.

PuckPedia noted the Stars have $90.5 million committed to next year. And as their early exit highlighted, they need to make some tweaks if they're going to get beyond the Western Conference Final next season and beyond.

That's all the inspiration we needed to come up with a handful of potential trade partners that make some sense given what they can offer in a trade. We'd say how he'd fit in, but Robertson's skill set would fit in with any team anywhere.

Anaheim Ducks

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One of the teams Marek tossed out as a suggestion to acquire Robertson was the Anaheim Ducks, and it makes a lot of sense for a few reasons.

They have plenty of cap space, first and foremost. Adding Robertson's $7.75 million cap hit and then also having room to negotiate an extension beyond next season would be more than doable.

The Ducks are also a team on the rise. The glow-up Anaheim had this season while throwing themselves into the wild-card race was unexpected to a degree, but with the array of young stars on the roster, it was a jump you could see coming eventually, just maybe not this soon.

Adding Robertson, who turns 26 in July, would give them a veteran player who's also relatively young as well to join Troy Terry, Trevor Zegras and Leo Carlsson up front.

The Ducks also have a copious amount of young talent to dangle in a trade, especially on defense where the Stars would likely be looking for some additional help.

Dallas would ideally want a right-handed defenseman, but considering how many high-end blueliners are in Anaheim's system (Olen Zellweger, Jackson LaCombe, Pavel Mintyukov, Stian Solberg, Noah Warren), that shouldn't be a problem.

Ottawa Senators

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The Ottawa Senators might not have been the first team to come to mind when thinking of a trade partner for Robertson, but Marek highlighted them as a team to keep an eye on.

Under new owner Michael Andlauer, Ottawa got back to the postseason this year and will want to continue doing so.

Andlauer and GM Steve Staios will want to seize the momentum and also keep up with what will again be a competitive Atlantic Division. The Senators want to close in on the likes of Tampa Bay, Florida and Toronto, but they also want to keep Montréal, Detroit and Buffalo off their heels, too.

Adding Robertson to the roster would be a tricky trade to make. The Senators don't have a lot of depth on defense, so giving up any blueliner would be a hard move to make. They also lack a wealth of draft picks and only just started having their own selections again in recent years after trading them away.

That said, Robertson would be a massive addition to Ottawa's forward group. Having him join Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stützle, Dylan Cozens and Drake Batherson would give them a wickedly talented top-six forward group.

Calgary Flames

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You'd like to think the Dallas Stars wouldn't be keen to trade Robertson to another team in the Western Conference. Then again, if an interested team has something they'd want badly, you'd have to consider the Calgary Flames.

The move would give Calgary a star forward to score, make plays and lead a team that's perhaps on the rise. Robertson in the mix with Jonathan Huberdeau, Nazem Kadri and Matt Coronato highlights how big of a difference-maker he would be.

What makes the Flames a possible match for a trade are the defensemen they've got on hand who could make a deal a lot easier to make, namely MacKenzie Weegar or Rasmus Andersson.

An Andersson-Robertson swap would feature two guys who could be free agents next summer being traded for each other.

The Flames would get an elite forward, and the Stars would add another high-end defenseman to deepen their blue-line corps. Dallas would save over $3 million against the cap, while Calgary could easily afford Robertson with the amount of space it has got to work with.

Would those guys sign extensions with their new teams? Let's not worry about that little detail. We're just here to try some ideas out.

Buffalo Sabres

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It feels like we've been saying this for a few years now, but if there's a team that can best make a big trade happen, it's the Buffalo Sabres. Only this time the way it would happen is a little different.

In the past, the Sabres' deep pool of prospects and wealth of draft picks would be the easiest way to make a deal, but they've got some questions about some of their roster players who could be used to land Robertson.

The Sabres have RFAs in forward JJ Peterka and defenseman Bo Byram at the top of the list who could be used to make a big-swing deal. They've also got the No. 9 pick in the 2025 draft, and there's a debate to be had as to whether they should keep that pick or trade it in this kind of move.

The Sabres would add a young forward who's among the elite players in the league and is both great at scoring and defending. That kind of overall upgrade up front could be the kind of thing that gets them back to the playoffs for the first time since 2011.

If the Sabres moved Byram, the Stars would get a young defenseman whose game is still getting better, and he'd be someone well-acquainted with how hard it is to play in the Central Division.

If they dealt Peterka, he would be a younger, less-expensive-for-now forward who could help the Stars attack continue to roll.

Toronto Maple Leafs

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Let's walk and talk a little here.

If the Toronto Maple Leafs watch forward Mitch Marner walk in free agency come July 1, they're going to have a massive hole to fill up front. He is a top player in the league and nearly impossible to replace...unless they traded for Robertson.

The Maple Leafs could re-sign Marner and trade for Robertson so long as John Tavares either walked or re-signed for a team-friendly amount.

If the Leafs found a way to add Robertson after Marner walked, the pieces to be written about whether they upgraded or not would heat many small midwestern cities for a month.

Do we want to get into how Toronto could swing such a trade? Well, that's the tricky part. The Leafs lack top prospects to move and don't have a first-round pick for the next three years.

Those are two remarkably high hurdles to clear to make a trade, but weirder things have happened.

New York Islanders

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There's a new GM in charge on Long Island in Mathieu Darche, and he's inherited the biggest problem that faces the Islanders: a severe lack of scoring talent.

Darche finding a way to add Jason Robertson and making him a fixture for the future on the Island would be a heck of a way to make a mark.

The easiest/hardest way for a Robertson trade to happen would be for the Islanders to deal RFA defenseman Noah Dobson. The 25-year-old righthanded defenseman is due for a big raise and thinking about adding him to the Stars defense with Miro Heiskanen and Thomas Harley sounds like a lot of fun.

Robertson going to the Islanders to team up with Mathew Barzal and Bo Horvat helps them add another superior offensive player to the mix and if they do anything rash like buying out Pierre Engvall and/or Scott Mayfield, they'll have more money to throw around to add to the roster and extend Robertson.

Making a big move like this would go a long way to getting Islanders fans to believe things will be different under new management. And after how drab and uninspiring they've been the past few seasons, a jolt like this would be huge.

Detroit Red Wings

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The Red Wings are in a desperate kind of way. They've got their own playoff drought of nine years, and GM Steve Yzerman is under a lot of pressure to change that.

His efforts to right the ship in Detroit have seen the team have a strong season for about 75 percent of the schedule, but that hasn't been enough to put it over the top.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and the Wings trading for Robertson would be the kind of move that would scream "either this works or we're all getting canned," and that's the kind of drama we like.

The Red Wings' blue line needs the most help but when a player of Robertson's class could be had via trade, any team that's close to being a playoff team has to make a call.

Detroit has prospects and picks lurking, and any team with Dylan Larkin, Alex DeBrincat and Lucas Raymond and then adds Robertson would be scary.

Carolina Hurricanes

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We saved the Hurricanes for last because they present the most intriguing and obvious case to add Robertson.

They were deeply active in the pursuit of a scoring winger this season. They added Mikko Rantanen from Colorado only to see it not work out before trading him to Dallas for Logan Stankoven and more.

Stankoven proved to be a very good addition and the best way for them to make the best of a rough situation.

The problem for the 'Canes, however, is they could still stand to use an elite winger. They should be involved in the hunt for Mitch Marner in free agency, but if they're not willing to drop that kind of bank, circling back and making another deal with Dallas for Robertson would make a lot of sense.

The trade relationship is established and Rantanen has worked out well for the Stars. It'd be poetic if Carolina could acquire Robertson and sign him to an extension.

It feels like a summer when Carolina GM Eric Tulsky makes a big move up front, and trading for Robertson checks all of those boxes.