Stars GM Nill: Roussel is 'a big part of our team going forward'
The Dallas Stars impressive offseason continued Tuesday, as the team announced a new four-year, $8-million contract for Antoine Roussel.
According to Gerry Fraley of the Dallas News, the deal came together shortly before the Stars and Roussel’s agent, Christopher Daigle, were to meet for an arbitration hearing in Toronto.
Stars general manager Jim Nill said the long-term nature of the deal reflects the club's confidence in the 24-year-old forward.
“We think he’s a big part of our team going forward, and we wanted to get him locked up,” Nill said. “He’s a character guy who has worked hard to become an NHL player. It was important for us to get this done with him.”
Nill added, "[Roussel] plays the game the right way. He plays hard. He’s got a physical edge to him and on top of that he can put points up and it’s hard to find those type of players. He’s a good guy in the room. He’s earned everything he should have and you can’t have enough of those guys on the team."
Roussel signed a contract with the Stars in 2012 as an undrafted free agent - after having originally cracked into professional hockey with the Boston Bruins AHL club in 2010-11 - and registered 14 goals, 15 assists, 209 penalty minutes and a 52.1 Corsi For rating in 2013-14, his first full season in the NHL.
“Knowing where Antoine has come from, working extremely hard to get to the NHL, to get a commitment of four years from the team makes him very happy,” his agent said. “Most of all, he’s glad to be a part of their plan and part of that family with those good young players. Now, he can focus on doing his job on the ice.”
Nill will now turn his attention to working out new deal for Cody Eakin and Brenden Dillon.