Jason Robertson turned down $15 million a year. Now the Stars have to figure out what’s next.

The Jason Robertson contract standoff took a wild turn this week, and somehow both sides are still in the same room.

Here’s where it gets weird. The Dallas Stars gave their star winger permission to talk to the Seattle Kraken about an offer sheet. Seattle came back with eight years and $15 million per season. Robertson said no thanks. And now Stars GM Jim Nill is trying to explain to everyone how this is all part of the plan.

“That’s his right,” Nill told The Dallas News. “He’s earned his right. We have our right to do what we have to do, too. That’s part of the business that we’re in.”

Robertson is a restricted free agent, which means the Stars can match any offer sheet from another team. But letting him talk to the Kraken wasn’t just a courtesy. It was a strategic move — a way to see what the market would actually pay for a guy who’s scored 40-plus goals three times in his career. The fact that he turned down $120 million tells you what he thinks he’s worth.

A gamble for both sides

Nill isn’t panicking. At least not publicly. He’s saying all the right things about moving forward and keeping lines of communication open with Robertson’s camp. But there’s an obvious tension here. The Stars need to make decisions about their roster, and they can’t just wait around forever.

“In the end, we’ve got to do our job,” Nill said. “If there’s an opportunity to make that we think is a good opportunity for our team, we have to do it. [The Seattle deal] was also a good opportunity for him. In the end, it didn’t materialize. Now, we continue to talk. I talked to his representatives right after that, and we continue to move forward.”

That sounds reasonable. But it’s also pretty clear that Robertson wants a contract that reflects his status as one of the NHL’s elite scorers. He’s got 213 goals and 277 assists in 456 games since being drafted in the second round in 2017. Numbers like that don’t come cheap.

What happens if they can’t agree?

The Stars could go the arbitration route, but that’s messy and tends to leave bad feelings. They could trade him, but that would be a huge blow to a team that’s been a legit contender. Or they could just keep talking and hope something clicks before training camp.

Nill isn’t showing his hand. He keeps saying this is just business. But the fact that Robertson walked away from $15 million a year suggests he might be willing to sit out if he doesn’t get what he wants. And the Stars know they can’t replace his production easily.

For now, both sides are still talking. That’s something. But the longer this drags on, the more it feels like a standoff where nobody wants to blink first.