The Dallas Stars re-signed center Matt Duchene to a four-year contract on Thursday.

Duchene's new contract runs through the 2028-29 campaign with an average annual value of $4.5 million. The 34-year-old was a pending UFA after playing the past two seasons with the Stars on one-year, $3-million contracts.

“We are thrilled to have Matt back with our organization,” Stars GM Jim Nill said in a press 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.”

With this new contract, eight players on the Stars have higher cap hits than Duchene does for next season, but none had more points than his 82 in 82 games in 2024-25. He also ranked third on the team in goals, with 30. Those were his best totals since his career-high 43 goals and 86 points with the Nashville Predators in 2021-22. Duchene's 52 assists this past season, however, set a new high.

While Nill took care of getting Duchene under contract, the Stars now have some difficult decisions to make.

They have a projected $455,094 of cap space for next season, according to PuckPedia, but they still have six pending UFAs and two pending RFAs.

Among the UFAs are longtime captain Jamie Benn and trade deadline acquisition Mikael Granlund.

Benn, 35, finished an eight-year contract worth $9.5 million annually. While he had 78 points in 82 games in 2022-23, his point totals decreased to 60 in 2023-24 and 49 this past season. He also averaged 15:18 of ice time.

In the playoffs, Benn had a goal and two assists for three points in 18 games while logging a minus-11 rating and 13:06 of ice time.

Granlund, 33, had five goals and 10 points in the playoffs while averaging 17:27 of ice time. He also had 21 points in 31 games after the Stars acquired him and Cody Ceci from the San Jose Sharks in February. Dallas sent a first-round pick and third-rounder in the 2025 draft, but the Stars lost to the Edmonton Oilers 4-1 in the Western Conference final.

Granlund had a four-year contract with a $5-million cap hit. Overall, in 2024-25, Granlund had 22 goals and 66 points in 83 games.

The Stars' other pending UFAs are Evgenii Dadonov, Colin Blackwell, Ceci and Brendan Smith. Their RFAs are Mavrik Bourque and Nils Lundkvist.

Three massive contracts kick in for the Stars next season.

Dallas signed starting goaltender Jake Oettinger to an eight-year contract extension with an $8.25-million cap hit last October. At the trade deadline, they re-signed 22-year-old Wyatt Johnston to a five-year deal worth $8.4 million per season.

Also at the trade deadline, the Stars pulled off a blockbuster by acquiring right winger Mikko Rantanen from the Carolina Hurricanes and signing the 28-year-old to an eight-year contract with a $12-million cap hit.

NHL Rumor Roundup: Updates On Stars' Jason Robertson And Avalanche's Martin NecasThe Dallas Stars' elimination from the Western Conference final last month prompted

Those massive signings don't leave enough room for the team to bring back everyone. That's led to speculation about who might not come back or what cost-cutting moves the Stars could make. That includes potentially trading their second-top scorer, Jason Robertson, or buying out the contract of Matt Dumba.

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The 2024-25 season is over as the Florida Panthers won the Stanley Cup again. However, there is still plenty of work ahead for all 32 GMs as the buyout window opens on Friday.

The buyout window will remain open until June 30, according to PuckPedia.

Last season, six players were bought out of their contracts. One of those six was defenseman Nate Schmidt, who won the Cup with the Panthers on Tuesday. 

Here are seven potential buyout candidates for the remainder of the month.

Pierre Engvall, LW, New York Islanders

Newly appointed GM of the New York Islanders, Mathieu Darche, has a decision to make on Pierre Engvall’s contract. Two years ago, former Isles GM Lou Lamoriello signed Engvall to a whopping seven-year contract at $3 million per year.

The term of his contract doesn’t match his offensive production and value. This past season, the left winger played 62 games, scoring eight goals and 15 points. In addition, he averaged 11:49 of ice time for the Islanders, one of the lowest averages among the team’s forwards. He cleared waivers twice as well.

TJ Brodie, D, Chicago Blackhawks

After three straight years of finishing last in the Central Division, GM Kyle Davidson and the Chicago Blackhawks are under pressure to show some progress. Buying out defenseman TJ Brodie is an option for the team.

Brodie, 35, is going into the last year of his two-year contract that gives him $3.75 million per season. He played 54 games and didn’t play after March 1. In addition, he averaged the least amount of ice time in his 15-year career at 15:38 per game.

Philipp Grubauer, G, Seattle Kraken

The Seattle Kraken’s Philipp Grubauer is in a similar situation to Jack Campbell after the Edmonton Oilers bought out his contract last off-season.

Grubauer, 33, posted a career-worst 3.49 goals-against average and .875 save percentage. It got to the point where he was sent down to the AHL in February and played seven games for the Coachella Valley Firebirds.

Grubauer has two more years left on his contract while he earns $5.9 million per year.

Ryan Reaves, RW, Toronto Maple Leafs

Ryan Reaves, 38, has cemented himself as one of the most respected enforcers in the modern game, but he is regressing.

He had just one fight in the regular season, a tilt with Mathieu Olivier of the Columbus Blue Jackets. In his 15-year career, he never went an entire season with just one fight, according to hockeyfights.com. He also averaged 7:48 of ice time and had two assists in 35 games.

Around the trade deadline, he was sent down to the  AHL's Toronto Marlies for cap reasons. A buyout for Reaves might be the way for the Leafs to shave off some more money.

Matt Dumba, D, Dallas Stars

Dallas Stars defenseman Matt Dumba is a candidate for a buyout because the team could use any salary cap space they can get. The 30-year-old D-man is going into the last year of his contract, worth $3.75 million. He had a goal and 10 points in 63 games, and he didn’t play in the playoffs.

Captain Jamie Benn, Matt Duchene and Mikael Granlund are pending UFAs that they could lose on July 1. There have also been rumors that GM Jim Nill could look to trade Jason Robertson to clear even more cap space.

Justin Holl, D, Detroit Red Wings

Justin Holl is another right-shot defenseman going into the final year of his contract. The Detroit Red Wings signed him to a three-year deal at a $3.4-million cap hit in the 2023 off-season.

Detroit hasn’t made the playoffs in nine years, and GM Steve Yzerman needs to make some tough decisions. Buying out Holl would free cap space and a spot on the Red Wings’ blueline, an area where they struggled lately. For the past two seasons, the Wings are 26th in goals against.

David Kampf, C, Toronto Maple Leafs

Buying out Kampf is another cost-cutting option for the Leafs.

Kampf is a solid bottom-six center who can kill penalties and win faceoffs. However, he earns $2.4 million for the next two seasons. The Leafs also acquired Scott Laughton at the trade deadline, who took Kampf’s spot on the roster during the playoffs.

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