Duchene expressed on locker clean out day that he not only wanted to stay in Dallas, but he wanted more stability of a long-term deal.

Matt Duchene signed a four-year, $18 million contract with the Dallas Stars on Thursday. It has an average annual value of $4.5 million.

The Avalanche are keeping arguably their top free agent in the fold for the foreseeable future. The team has signed forward Brock Nelson to a three-year contract extension that carries an average-annual-value of $7.5 million. Nelson was slated to become an unrestricted free agent this summer.