Dallas Stars: Roope Hintz’s extension is the best of both worlds

Roope Hintz is the kind of player the Dallas Stars need to keep in-house.

When Roope Hintz, already playing on a fractured ankle, took a particularly tough hit against the boards in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals, it effectively ended the Dallas Stars‘ championship hopes.

Now sure, is that a bit of a generalization? You bet, but riddle me this: How often does a team lose arguably their third-best scorer and actually get better?

A second-round pick in the 2015 NHL Draft, Hintz initially joined the team in 2018 and quickly established himself as a core player for the Stars moving forward. He played in 60 games for the Stars in 2019-20, scored 19 goals on 120 shots – tied for the second-best mark on the team with Jamie Benn – and +/- of 3 in only his second professional season of action.

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And as of Monday, November 9th, Hintz isn’t going anywhere any time soon.

That’s right, with the natural left-wing expected to make the move to second-line center for the 2020-21 season, the Stars opted to answer any questions about his status moving forward and gave the 23-year-old Finish product a three-year, $9.45 million extension to stay in Dallas through the 2022-23 season.

Is that a lot of money to pay a young forward transitioning to a new position in only his third professional season? Eh, maybe, but that doesn’t mean it’s the wrong move. In actuality, this move is one of the best the Stars have pulled off in recent memory.

Why? Because Hintz is the rare developmental prospect actually capable of hanging on a championship-caliber roster.

With all three of the Stars’ projected top-liner forwards over the age of 30, and only one, captain Jamie Benn, under contract after the 2021-22 season, Hintz is unquestionably the team’s best ‘younger’ forward until Tyler Seguin returns from hip surgery in April. If he can recapture some of that regular-season prowess Hintz showed pre-NHL Bubble, as opposed to his scoreless playoff run, the Stars could suddenly find themselves a team flush with enough scoring prowess to make it back to the finals and challenge yet again for the cup.

Even if Hintz is only moonlighting at center until Sequin returns to the ice, it’s clear his ability to make plays for himself and others sets up the soon-to-be-24-year-old for a fruitful 2020-21 season – with the potential to earn another extension not too far down the line.

In the NHL, like every other sports league, no truly successful team can get complacent. While some teams are able to amass a young corps and watch them grow together for a decade-plus, most teams have to consistently identify, acquire, and develop young, ascending talents to keep their cupboards stocked for a rainy day. Even if Roope Hintz’s ceiling with the Dallas Stars is still up in the air, the team is 100 percent better off with him in the fray both now and moving forward.