Punchy Hockey Headline: "NHL Leader Confirms Robertson's Talk Time Soon, Debunking Rumors

Dallas Stars GM Jim Nill breaks silence on Jason Robertson's contract originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here . Dallas Stars general manager Jim Nill broke his silence on forward Jason Robertson's contract and confirmed his intentions after weeks of rumors that had him away from the team.

Speaking on NHL Network's "NHL First Shift" with EJ Hradek, Nill confirmed that his goal is to keep Robertson, 26, for the long term. "We started discussions with Jason last summer, so we've kept in touch, and in the end, we decided, let's table this," he said. "Let's go have a good year, let's have a good playoff, and we'll make this work.

He's a big part of our team. He's one of the leading scorers in the league, and he's really in the prime of his career. He's a big part of our team.

So a priority for us is to get him signed this summer and move on. " Jason Robertson has one year left as an RFA before hitting the UFA market Robertson still has one more year as an RFA (restricted free agent) before he can become a UFA (unrestricted free agent), so next summer is the crucial moment to define his future. Dallas acquired forward Mikko Rantanen at the trade deadline last year.