Mikko Rantanen didn’t just choose Dallas. He chose certainty.
When he signed his eight-year, $96 million extension with the Stars in March 2025, he walked away from what Finland’s Ilta-Sanomat says could have been tens of millions more over the life of a deal. Teemu Suvinen’s Oct. 30 report estimates Rantanen would be worth about $4 million to $5 million more per season in today’s market, but that number only makes sense with the full picture attached.
Rantanen said he knew the salary cap was going up when he put pen to paper. He had also just been through two trades in six weeks, and that grind clearly mattered. He wanted the stability of a long-term contract and, as he put it, he was done moving.
That decision looks different now than it did then. The market has climbed fast, and the comparison point that matters most did not even exist when Rantanen signed.
In March 2025, Leon Draisaitl’s $14 million per season was the richest deal in the league. Suvinen’s story notes that contracts above $17 million were basically unheard of at the time.
Kirill Kaprizov’s eight-year, $17 million-a-year deal with the Minnesota Wild came later in September, and that contract changed the conversation.
Rantanen’s path to Dallas was anything but calm. The Colorado Avalanche dealt him to the Carolina Hurricanes on Jan. 24, 2025, in the final year of his contract, then Carolina flipped him to Dallas on March 7.
He signed the extension the same day. Two trades.
Two new dressing rooms. Six weeks.
Money has been part of this story from the beginning, though Rantanen has never sounded obsessed with squeezing every last dollar out of the market. After the first trade, he told Ilta-Sanomat he had been willing to accept less than his market value to remain in Colorado.
Yle, citing Pierre LeBrun, reported at the time that the Avalanche did not want to go above Nathan MacKinnon’s $12.6 million. In Dallas, he still signed for less than what the open market might have delivered.
This week, Rantanen added another layer. After the second trade, he said he only wanted to focus on hockey. The way he framed it, this was about finding a place that fit, not chasing a few extra million a year.
He also made clear that the money itself doesn’t keep him up at night. Whether he makes $12 million or $16 million a season, he said, it doesn’t matter much in the long run.
“I’m a humble guy from Nousiainen, and I don’t buy new cars every week.” He also said rising salaries are good for players and that everyone wants to be paid their market value.
Dallas has benefited from the timing as much as the player. The Stars are 8-5-1 and third in the Central Division after beating the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-1 on Oct.
- Rantanen’s cap hit was about 13 percent of the ceiling last season and is set to dip below 11 percent next season, when the cap is projected at $113.5 million.
His number stayed the same. The league’s economics moved around it.
The tax picture matters, too. Texas has no state income tax, and Ilta-Sanomat’s math says Rantanen keeps about $7.7 million of his $12 million after taxes, compared with about $9.1 million of Kaprizov’s $17 million in Minnesota.
The other big Dallas contract question belongs to Jason Robertson. He went the opposite direction in July, taking a one-year, $12 million deal after turning down a reported eight years at $15 million per season from the Seattle Kraken. He is now playing a contract year, while Rantanen is locked in through 2032-33, his age-36 season.
Robertson has produced 14 points in 14 games this season after leading the Stars with 96 points last year. He also took less to stay, though Seattle’s offer would have paid him about $3 million more this season.
Stars general manager Jim Nill told NHL.com he wants to meet with Robertson’s camp around Dec. 1, even though no extension can be signed before Jan. 1.
There is no obvious urgency, at least not from the outside. On TSN’s Insider Trading on Oct.
29, Pierre LeBrun said he believes Robertson loves it in Dallas. He also questioned why Robertson would sign in January, when waiting would let him see how much salaries keep rising.
A new deal also would not bring trade protection until July 1.
Dallas has room to maneuver either way. Tyler Seguin’s $9.85 million comes off the books after this season, along with Robertson’s current $12 million.
Matching Rantanen’s share of the cap next season would mean about $13 million. Matching Kaprizov’s would push that number to about $18.5 million.
If Robertson signs in January, the contract-year drama ends early. If he waits until July, he plays the rest of the season with a projected $113.5 million cap hanging over the negotiation. Rantanen ended his talks the day he arrived.
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