Dallas Stars sign Brendan Smith to one-year, $1 million contract

Smith was an unrestricted free agent after the conclusion of his two-year contract with a $1.1 million cap hit with the New Jersey Devils. He sees a slight decline of $100,000 on his cap hit. There are currently no details regarding any no-move/no-trade clauses or signing bonuses with this contract.

With this new contract, the Stars lock him up at 1.14% of the 2024-25 salary cap. He shares a cap hit with defensemen Conor Timmins, Travis Hamonic, and Kyle Burroughs.

Even at 35 years old, Smith had one of his most productive seasons in the NHL with 5 goals and 10 assists for 15 points in 63 games. That ties his previous career high in goals, having also scored five in 2013-14 and 2020-21, and is tied for his second-highest point total in a season, having gotten 19 points in that 2013-14 season.

Smith was the 27th overall pick of the Detroit Red Wings in the 2007 NHL Draft, and after making his NHL debut in the 2011-12 season, he went on to play parts of six seasons in Detroit before he was dealt to the New York Rangers at the trade deadline. He spent five years with the Rangers before he then went to free agency and signed with the Carolina Hurricanes for a season. After that, he went back to free agency and then signed his previous two-year deal with the Devils.

Smith is one of five signings that the Stars have made on the first day of free agency, as they’ve also re-signed Matt Duchene and added Matt Dumba, Casey DeSmith and Ilya Lyubushkin to their team. They have almost $6 million in projected salary cap space after the signings, with defenseman Thomas Harley being the lone restricted free agent on their roster.