DALLAS — The Stars re-signed Denis Gurianov to a two-year contract worth $2.55 million annually Thursday, the club announced, securing the former first-round pick after he led the Stars in goals during the 2019-20 regular season. The deal was first reported by The Dallas Morning News.
Gurianov's contract leaves just Roope Hintz as the last remaining unsigned restricted free agent for Dallas. According to CapFriendly, the Stars have about $4.11 million in cap space remaining after signing Gurianov.
In his rookie season, Gurianov scored a team-high 20 goals, bursting onto the scene as one of the top rookie scorers in the NHL. In the playoffs, he had a couple memorable performances: first by scoring four goals in a Game 6 win over Calgary in the first round, and then by blasting a one-timer to win the Western Conference in Game 5's overtime against Vegas. Gurianov also scored just one goal in his final 14 postseason games.
Gurianov's situation was unique, and his production last season offered few comparable contracts for a rookie in a contract year that led their team in scoring. A long-term deal would have locked Gurianov in for longer, but at a higher cap hit than the Stars probably would have wanted. A short-term deal keeps the cap hit down for the Stars, and allows Gurianov to potentially make more money if the salary cap goes up in the future after the financial ledgers around the league have recovered after the coronavirus pandemic.
Gurianov found a role this season as a top-six winger and triggerman on the power play, setting up in the right circle and transforming the Stars second power play with a lethal one-timer. With the departure of Mattias Janmark and Corey Perry, Gurianov's offensive role should increase next season at 5 on 5. Among the 12 Stars forwards who played in at least 50 games, Gurianov was last with 10:27 of ice time at 5 on 5.
Re-signing Gurianov was a part of the Stars' offseason plan in which they largely kept their Western Conference championship team intact after coming within two wins of the Stanley Cup. General manager Jim Nill brought back Anton Khudobin (three years, $3.333 million cap hit), Andrej Sekera (two years, $1.5 million cap hit) and Radek Faksa (five years, $3.25 million cap hit), but didn't make many other changes.
Defenseman Mark Pysyk is the only new face in the organization after signing a one-year contract worth $750,000 to provide depth on the right side of the blue line, with Stephen Johns' future uncertain and Thomas Harley's NHL readiness unknown.
