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Stars GM Jim Nill confident RFA defenseman Thomas Harley will re-sign ahead of camp

Harley is one of the last pieces the Stars need to finalize in setting their roster before the 2024-25 season begins.

More than a month removed from the start of free agency and more than a month until the Stars begin training camp in Frisco, the NHL has entered its quietest period of the year.

But as the Stars’ players, coaches and management enjoy their vacations and time away, one important deal looms.

The Stars are close to solidifying their roster for next season. The addition of Mavrik Bourque and possibly another AHL player such as Matej Blumel, Oskar Back or Lian Bichsel will be resolved during camp in late September.

But before that begins, the Stars are working to re-sign restricted free agent defenseman Thomas Harley.

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The Stars made Harley a qualifying offer ahead of free agency this summer, retaining the rights to re-sign him between now and Dec. 1.

But Stars GM Jim Nill told The Dallas Morning News on Friday he is confident they’ll reach a deal before camp begins.

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“We’re having healthy communication. We’re having talks,” Nill said. “We’re going to get him signed. I’m not too concerned.”

It’s common for negotiations to go quiet this time of year and ramp up ahead of camp. Nill said that while they have remained in discussions with Harley and his agent, he expects negotiations to pick up in the next two to three weeks. He doesn’t expect to have to navigate what the Stars faced with Jason Robertson two seasons ago when contract disputes led him to miss the first two weeks of training camp.

Harley doesn’t have arbitration rights, so there is less pressure to rush to finalize a deal. However, having him re-signed before the start of training camp is a top priority, especially after Harley’s last season.

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After spending most of the 2022-23 season in the AHL, Harley became a top-pairing blue liner for Dallas, appearing in 79 regular-season games and scoring 15 goals with 32 assists. He finished top-10 on the team in points and led the team in plus-minus at plus-28.

Harley added four assists in the playoffs and averaged 23 minutes, 52 seconds of ice time in 19 games.

“He’s a great story of sometimes the patience you have to have,” Nill said. “He went down and did what we asked him to do, and now he’s getting rewarded because of that. He’s a big part of our future — a big part of our team now and a big part of our future moving forward.”

While there’s little doubt the Stars will re-sign Harley, what his new contract looks like remains in question. Nill said a bridge deal is probable, benefiting Harley, who could be destined for further growth and more money a few years down the line, and the team, which has cap limitations.

“If I had $30 million in cap, I’d have no trouble saying, ‘Well, let’s project out eight years here and see what he is,’ but we’re a good team with a lot of young players coming up, so we’ve got to make sure we manage the dollars the correct way,” Nill said.

According to PuckPedia, the Stars have $6.24 million remaining in cap space ahead of this season to re-sign Harley and bring up some young forward depth from the Texas Stars.

Once Harley is re-signed, Dallas will have seven defensemen on its NHL roster, not including Lian Bichsel.

“I fully expect him to come and compete,” Nill said of Bichsel. “In the end, the players will dictate where things go. We wanted to make sure we had lots of depth.”

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