Jason Robertson has made his final decision, according to Elliotte Friedman

Jason Robertson is heading to arbitration, and that single decision just erased a threat hanging over the Dallas Stars for weeks.

Elliotte Friedman reported Sunday that Robertson has indicated he will file, which wipes out any chance of a rival team hitting Dallas with an offer sheet.

Five o'clock Eastern is the hard deadline tonight. If eligible players skip arbitration, teams then get until tomorrow to decide their own move.

"Robertson has indicated he will file for arbitration, which will also eliminate the possibility of an offer sheet for him.

5 ET is official deadline. If eligible players do not go this route, teams have until tomorrow to decide if they will."

- Elliotte Friedman

For a Stars team that just posted a 50-20-12 record and 112 points, third overall in the league, losing Robertson to an offer sheet would've been a gut punch.

He is not a complementary piece. Robertson put up 96 points this season, 45 goals and 51 assists, with 15 power play goals and nine game-winners.

Those are 96 reasons any general manager around the league would've circled his name the moment free agency logic allowed a shot at him.

Carrying a cap hit of $7,750,000 that is about to expire, Robertson was exactly the kind of restricted free agent that makes rival front offices sweat.

Why arbitration changes everything for Dallas this summer

Arbitration is the safer road for both sides here. It locks Robertson into a resolution without exposing Dallas to an outside bidding war it can't fully control.

Jim Nill runs this front office, and Glen Gulutzan is entering his first full season behind the Dallas bench after taking over last July.

Neither wants to be scrambling to match an offer sheet in the middle of an offseason that already includes finalizing a championship-caliber roster.

Dallas has won five straight games to close out its most recent stretch and carries a plus-52 goal differential, built in part on Robertson's left side scoring.

Losing that without full control over the outcome would've been a self-inflicted wound. Bad process, no matter how it played out.

But arbitration doesn't guarantee a long-term marriage. One report floated Sunday suggests this could end up as a one-year bridge that walks Robertson straight into unrestricted free agency next summer.

That's the tension nobody's resolving today. Dallas dodges one bullet at 5 p.m. and might be reloading the same gun for July 2027.