The Dallas Stars are bringing back a familiar face on a short deal, signing forward Joel Kiviranta to a one-year, $1 million contract.
For Dallas fans, Kiviranta’s name still carries some real weight. The undrafted winger out of Vantaa, Finland first reached the NHL after joining the Stars organization in 2019, and he carved out his place in club history during the 2020 Stanley Cup bubble.
As a “Black Ace,” Kiviranta stunned everyone with a Game 7 hat trick against the Colorado Avalanche, capped by the series-clinching overtime winner that pushed Dallas into the Western Conference Final. The Stars later fell to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Final.
Kiviranta spent the last few years with Colorado before making his way back to Dallas. His best offensive season came in 2024-25, when he posted career highs with 16 goals and 23 points for the Avalanche.
The 2025-26 season, though, was far more difficult. Concussions and lower-body injuries slowed him down, and he finished with just three goals and nine points in 51 games while handling a reduced bottom-six role.
Across his NHL career, Kiviranta has 38 goals and 69 points in 349 regular-season games, plus 14 points in 56 playoff appearances. He also owns some international hardware, winning gold with Finland at the 2019 IIHF World Championship and a bronze medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Dallas still has roughly $10.6 million in cap space, and the front office has been active around the margins. The Stars added depth by signing a group of players headed to the AHL, and they also moved Mavrik Bourque and Ilya Lyubushkin to Nashville to open up additional room.
That could help set up a contract extension for Jason Robertson. So far, the team has not handed out new deals to UFA forwards Jamie Benn, Adam Erne, Michael Bunting or Nathan Bastian.
The Stars are coming off a 112-point regular season that left them second in the Central Division, but their 2025-26 run ended with a frustrating first-round playoff exit against Minnesota.
In Other News...
Mason Marchment's Next Move Will Sting For Stars Fans
Mason Marchment is headed into another chapter after a season that already had him bouncing between teams, and the move carries a familiar sting for Dallas fans who watched him find his best form here. Since 2019-20, Marchment has piled up 234 points in 370 regular season games, but his most productive stretch came with the Stars in 2023-24, when he delivered 22 goals and 53 points and looked like a strong fit in the lineup.
Now the next contract and the long runway attached to it shift the conversation entirely, especially with the family tie that runs through his late father, Bryan Marchment, and the Sharks organization. For Dallas, it is another reminder that a useful middle-six piece who could help drive offense is gone for good, and the loss is likely to linger because of how well he had settled in before the latest turn in his career. [Read more 🡒]
Stars Hit A Painful Setback Right Before Free Agency
A collapsed offseason swing has left Dallas staring at a tighter cap picture than it expected as free agency approaches, and the pressure is now squarely on general manager Jim Nill to make the math work. The Stars have a little more than nine million dollars in cap space, which sounds workable until you stack it against the business still on the docket and the number of important decisions the front office has to juggle.
Jason Robertson sits near the top of that list, with Mavrik Bourque and Arttu Hyry also needing new deals while qualifying-offer and offer-sheet concerns linger. Jamie Benns future is still unresolved as well, adding another layer to the uncertainty, and it would not be a surprise if Dallas has to clear room through a trade or two before the market opens. [Read more 🡒]
Jason Robertson Suddenly Sits At Center Of A Brutal Stars Decision
Jason Robertson has landed squarely in the middle of a decision the Stars would rather not be making this time of year. A report from The Athletic says Pittsburgh has interest in prying the winger away from Dallas, with Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas among those who reportedly values Robertson highly. For the Stars, the issue is not whether Robertson can play - his production has already answered that - but how his market and long-term price tag fit into a roster that has to keep stacking contenders.
The tension is in what Dallas would have to give up, and what it would take to keep a player of Robertsons caliber from becoming part of another teams pitch. Robertson is viewed as a player whose next deal could climb into territory that forces real organizational choices, and the Penguins pursuit only adds pressure around those talks. If the Stars ever decide this conversation goes beyond curiosity, the framework of any return could say plenty about how they see their own window. [Read more 🡒]