The Dallas Stars and center Tyler Seguin have reached a "standstill" in contract talks, according to Sportsnet's Nick Kypreos.

The 26-year-old Seguin is among the top play-making centers in the NHL, and it should concern Stars fans that the two sides don't appear to be close on a deal right now. Seguin came over in a blockbuster trade with the Boston Bruins five years ago, and he's been everything they could have asked for.

Seguin is coming off another productive season with the Stars, in which he scored a career-high 40 goals and 78 points. Seguin has reached the 70-point mark in each of his five years with the Stars.

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In Sept. 2012, he signed a six-year extension worth $34.5 million with the Bruins, and wound up getting traded less than a year later. Seguin is set to hit the free agent market next summer, and there's little doubting he'd receive a massive raise over the $6.5 million base salary he'll earn in 2018-19.

The Stars have also been linked to defenceman Erik Karlsson in trade rumors, though talks on such a move have been quiet lately. He too is slated to hit free agency in 2019, and the Stars probably don't have the pieces to trade for the two-time Norris Trophy winner anyway.

Dallas has approx. $5.35 million in salary cap space, though Jason Spezza's whopping $7.5 million cap hit comes off the books next season, as does the $4.9 million blueliner Marc Methot carries. As such, the Stars would certainly have more than enough cap room to sign Seguin long-term, especially with the bulk of their core players signed well past 2019-20.

There is plenty of time for the Stars and Seguin to reach an agreement; he won't hit free agency until July 1 of next year. If a deal can't be reached by next year's trade deadline, however, it's very possible the Stars will shop their franchise centre as he prepares for free agency.

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