FRISCO, Texas (AP) — The Dallas Stars had deals in place this offseason that would have sent high-scoring forward Jason Robertson and young standout defenseman Thomas Harley to other teams.
Since neither of those trades got completed, Robertson and Harley were both on the ice with the Stars for the start of training camp Thursday. But the homegrown players are in different situations.
Robertson is back on a $12 million, one-year deal that avoided salary arbitration after the Stars had a sign-and-trade deal in place with Seattle during the NHL draft in June. Robertson didn't agree to a reported $120 million, eight-year contract ($15 million a season) with the Kraken.
“It feels like another day, as if nothing ever happened and we’re back at it,” Robertson said after the first practice. “I want to be present. ... When I’m out here, it feels like the most of where I belong, on the ice playing.”
The Stars were then set to send Harley and Mavrik Bourque to Columbus for Norris Trophy winner Zach Werenski, but the star defenseman exercised his no-trade clause to remain with the Blue Jackets. Bourque was instead traded to Nashville at the start of free agency.
“I’ve always known that this is a business, but for the first time it really affected me that way, so it was a stressful week for sure,” said Harley, who later spoke with general manager Jim Nill and coach Glen Gulutzan. “We’re all on the same page, I want to be here, they want me here, so it’s all good. ... No hard feelings.”
This is the first season of an $84.69 million, eight-year contract extension that the 25-year-old Harley agreed to last November. He was the 18th overall pick by the Stars in the 2019 draft.
“I’ve already talked to him and then we move on,” said Nill, who added that Harley is a big part of the team.
That was the same for Nill with the 27-year-old Robertson, who the Stars drafted 39th overall in the second round of the 2017 draft.
Robertson has averaged more than a point a game in his six full NHL seasons with 490 points (213 goals and 277 assists) in 456 regular-season games, including all 328 games the past four years.
He was their leading scorer with 96 points (45 goals and 51 assists) last season, and had five goals with three assists in six playoff games. He became a restricted free agent after his third 40-goal season wrapped up the $31 million, four-year deal that he signed after being a holdout in training camp in 2022.
Without a contract extension from the Stars, which under NHL rules now couldn't come before Jan. 1, Robertson next summer could become an unrestricted free agent for the first time.
For now, the focus is on the ice with the Stars coming off their longest offseason in four years. They were knocked out in the first round of the playoffs last season after making the Western Conference Final each of the previous three years.
“Just playing, that’s when I’m most comfortable not thinking about it,” Robertson said about the contract situation. “I had to deal with it last year, kind of dealt with it four years ago.”
His $12 million salary for 2026-27 matches forward Mikko Rantanen for the highest on the Stars. Rantanen is going into the second season of the $96 million, eight-year extension he signed to facilitate the deadline trade that brought him to Dallas from Carolina in March 2025.
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FILE - Dallas Stars defenseman Thomas Harley shoots during an NHL hockey game against the Seattle Kraken in Dallas, Feb. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez, File)
FILE - Dallas Stars' Jason Robertson (21) and Thomas Harley (55) celebrate after Robertson scored against the Minnesota Wild in the third period of Game 2 of a first-round NHL Stanley Cup playoffs hockey series April 20, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez, File)
FILE - Dallas Stars left wing Jason Robertson (21) looks on during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Buffalo Sabres on April 15, 2026, in Buffalo, N.Y. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market rallied to its best day in six weeks Thursday after falling oil prices and easing pressure from the bond market helped Wall Street reverse many of its moves from the prior day.
The S&P 500 jumped 1.1% for just its second rise in the last nine days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 316 points, or 0.6%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 1.7%.
Stocks got a boost after the price for a barrel of Brent crude oil slid 1% to settle at $104.82. That’s down from the nearly $110 it reached earlier in the week on worries that the war with Iran will keep oil bottled up in the Middle East instead of going to customers worldwide.
Brent is of course still much more expensive than the $72 per barrel that it cost earlier this summer, but Thursday’s drop helped pull yields lower in the bond market and removed some pressure on stocks. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.93% from 5.01% late Wednesday.
Higher yields make it more expensive for everyone to borrow money, from the U.S. government to people looking to buy houses to businesses wanting to build data centers. That in turn slows the economy.
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised the short-term interest rate that it controls, the federal funds rate, by a quarter of a percentage point for its first hike in more than three years. Officials also signaled they may raise the federal funds rate one more time this year as they try to get the nation’s high inflation under control.
The signals sent Wall Street on a roller coaster. Stocks initially remained higher for the day after the Fed made its announcement Wednesday. They then slid sharply before recovering a chunk of the losses before trading ended.
On the upside for markets, the shift to higher interest rates built confidence that the Fed is committed to getting inflation back to its target of 2%. Questions had begun to bubble earlier about whether it would feel pressure from President Donald Trump, who is calling for lower interest rates. And the short-term cost of pain for the economy could be worth it if it gets inflation under control following years of its staying too high.
On the downside for markets, higher rates undercut prices for stocks and other investments. When investors earn more in interest from bonds, which are considered safer investments, they’re less willing to pay high prices for other investments. That’s beyond the slowing effect that higher rates have on the economy in hopes of removing fuel for inflation.
Some reports on Thursday signaled the U.S. economy may be strong enough to withstand higher interest rates. One said fewer U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week. Another said that manufacturing growth in the mid-Atlantic region was stronger than economists expected.
Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh said Wednesday that a strengthening economy is one of the reasons Fed officials moved to raise interest rates after keeping them on hold earlier this year.
He also cited “geopolitics,” along with the threat that the increases in prices it’s causing could filter out and push up inflation elsewhere. That’s likely a nod to the war with Iran and its effect on oil prices.
On Wall Street, stocks in the artificial-intelligence industry continued to rebound following their worldwide slide on Monday. Nvidia climbed 2.5%, and Advanced Micro Devices rose 6.4%.
That was even though OpenAI disclosed six more reports of “unexpected or concerning” behavior in AI models. Leaders of the AI industry over the weekend called for a slowdown in development to address safety issues for humanity
Stocks of several homebuilders also rose, even though a report showed the industry broke ground on fewer new homes last month than economists expected. The housing industry has been one of the hardest hit by the climb for the 10-year Treasury’s yield, which topped 5% this week for the first time since 2023 and has pulled mortgage rates higher.
Thursday’s ease in yields helped D.R. Horton rise 1.5%, while PulteGroup added 1.1%. Rival Lennar erased an early loss and climbed 1.7% after reporting weaker profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected.
All told, the S&P 500 rose 85.95 points to 7,637.76. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 316.14 to 51,778.04, and the Nasdaq composite rallied 439.87 to 26,418.30.
In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Europe following a weaker finish in Asia.
London’s FTSE 100 climbed 1.2% after the Bank of England decided to keep its interest rates on hold.
AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Michelle Chapman contributed to this report.
Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Screens display a news conference held by Federal Reserve chairman Kevin Warsh on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Screens display financial information on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Currency traders work at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Currency traders watch monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Currency traders pass by a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
