Pen to paper: Harley’s “well-deserved” extension further secures Stars’ blue line for future

Maybe the best thing about Thomas Harley is the fact he said he would celebrate his new eight-year contract extension by enjoying a DiGiorno pizza Tuesday night.

Maybe the best thing about Thomas Harley is how much his teammates celebrated the news when it was leaking out on national media before the ESPN telecast.

Maybe the best thing about Thomas Harley is he’s just starting to hit his prime at age 24 and is excited about what he can bring to the lads in Victory Green for the next eight years and possibly beyond.

Maybe the best thing about Thomas Harley is all of that put together.

Harley, who is in the final year of his current contract, signed an eight-year extension that averages $10.587 million on Tuesday night. If the current salary structure holds, he will have the second-largest AAV on the Stars next season, trailing only Mikko Rantanen at $12 million. That’s impressive when you consider everything he has done to get here.

“It was one of the coolest signings I have seen,” said veteran Tyler Seguin. “We had heard rumblings, but before the game it was on NHL Network on the TV and we were all over there - so it was a very loud pregame and it was pretty happy. He definitely got a little red, but he’s a great player and I am proud of him, so that is great.”

Maybe the most insightful quote from Harley’s press conference was this one: “The culture that’s been built here, it’s one of respect and kindness and winning. The group we have here is great and it’s going to continue to be great, so I’m excited to be here.”

Harley is a favorite both on the ice and in the dressing room. When the team walked the green carpet at the home opener, he sported a Jake Oettinger T-shirt under his suit and was wearing a pair of kicks from Roope Hintz’s new sneaker line.

Harley is part of a roster that currently contains 13 Dallas draft picks. Many of the selections are like Harley (18th overall in 2019), guys who obviously have talent but had to work their way up through the ranks. The defenseman did just that, bumping up to the Stars at age 19 because of COVID, but then bouncing back to the minors in three different trips before finally sticking in the NHL in the spring of 2023.

Harley has pointed to his strong work with the coaching staff in Cedar Park, and how Alain Nasreddine in Dallas has helped him take the next steps. He will tell you that he needed to understand the holes in his game, that he needed to find the discipline, that he needed to mature.

And now he has.

“To me, you go to work every day, you put your work boots on and you try to get better,” Harley said. “You might not see results day to day, but over the course of four or five years, it shows.”

Harley last season ranked 15th in scoring among defensemen with 50 points in 78 games. He ranked sixth in goals at 16 and sixth in plus-minus at plus-32. He stepped into a bigger role when Miro Heiskanen was sidelined with an injury in January, and finished second among defensemen in postseason scoring with 14 points in 18 games. His 25:58 time on ice was ninth among defensemen in the playoffs.

"This extension is well deserved,” Stars GM Jim Nill said. “Thomas has proven to be one of the top defensemen in our league, and his ability to step up in Miro Heiskanen's absence was an important part of our team maintaining its pace throughout last season. We're looking forward to seeing him anchor our blueline alongside Miro for many years to come."

And that’s maybe the best thing about the contract extension at this time. The majority of the core of this team is locked up for years to come, and that could make this a fun place to play for years to come.

“That’s part of the reason I chose to stay here,” Harley said. “We’re a competitive team the whole time and I hope I can be a part of it.”

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on X @MikeHeika.