What the Matt Duchene signing and Mason Marchment trade mean for Dallas

A quick look at some work the Stars got done on Thursday.

The Dallas Stars made a couple corresponding moves on Thursday, signing Matt Duchene to a four-year contract extension worth $4.5 million per season.

They then traded Mason Marchment and his $4.5 million salary to the Seattle Kraken for a 2026 third-round pick and a 2025 fourth-round pick.

For a quick recap/breakdown, here is what I know right now and, perhaps most importantly, what it means for those pesky Jason Robertson rumors.

I think we need to establish a couple key things. The Stars had conversations about trading Robertson, but it was always more of a feeling out for the market then a true desire to move on from the forward.

If the Stars were going to trade Robertson, it was going to be for a similar-level player or collection of assets that would recoup what they used to trade for Mikko Rantanen — think multiple first-round picks and a young player like Logan Stankoven.

At the same time the Stars were also actively looking at trading Mason Marchment, Matt Dumba, and Ilya Lyubushkin. As expected, there hasn’t been much of a market for either of the defenders — which Dallas scratched in the Western Conference Final — but there was interest in Marchment, and the Stars internal hope of netting at least a couple picks was a realistic ask.

The Stars also had the framework in place, according to a source, earlier this morning, before the Duchene deal was ever announced.

So Duchene took Marchment’s place on the cap ledger, and now Dallas has around $5 million in cap space to work with even before trading or buying out Dumba or Lyubushkin.

One league source, which should be noted doesn’t work with Dallas, texted me tonight wondering if the Stars would be able to use either of the picks from Seattle to move Dumba.

Overall it’s a tidy piece of business for Dallas, which is expected to bring back Jamie Benn on a team-friendly deal with a 35+ contract structure.

This should also really put any Robertson rumors to bed. The Stars like the player, Nill in particular, and it was always about the cap and potential return than wanting to jettison him away.

That’s what I know right now. Hope this adds some clarity. Happy Thursday.