Report: Steve Ott Agrees To Four-Year Contract Extension

This should be interesting. For the past month or so, word has been that the Dallas Stars and Steve Ott were nowhere close on contract-extension talks, as Ott wanted something close to Sean Avery money (four years, $16 million). With the Dallas financial situation the way it is, it was questionable whether they could sign Ott for the price he was asking and still manage to hang on to the players they’ll need to sign this summer.

From Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News, it appears that both sides came together over the weekend.

Ott, 27, is in the final year of his deal. He can become an unrestricted free agent in the summer, and the NHL trade deadline Wednesday has pushed the Stars to get something done. The Stars would have to have considered a trade for Ott had they not been able to hammer out an extension.

That forced some serious talk, and the Stars apparently worked to get it done.

Heika mentions that the contract has not actually been signed, but the terms have been agreed upon. The chance that the Stars could have traded Ott on Wednesday if a deal wasn’t reached had many fans worried, but I’ve been told by some that were in attendance at Stars practice on Saturday that Ott maintained he wasn’t going anywhere.

Heika suggests the deal may be in the $12 million range, which is what was speculated Ott wanted in the first place.

It’s a good thing he’s staying Dallas, because it would be interesting to see what sort of reception he’d get elsewhere. I’m guessing that the Ducks would not have been interested.