Stars sign Kyle Burroughs to one-year, two-way deal for 2026-27

Dallas added a veteran depth defenseman when it signed Kyle Burroughs to a one-year, two-way contract for the 2026-27 season. The move gives the organization a 30-year-old blue-liner who spent last season in the AHL with the Ontario Reign, where he posted seven points in 18 games and a 0.39 points-per-game rate that stood as an AHL career high.

Burroughs was not just parked on a roster in Ontario. He cleared waivers and was assigned to the Reign on Nov. 2, 2025 after starting the season on injured reserve with an upper-body injury, then handled both power-play and penalty-kill minutes once he was in the lineup. Ontario also paired him at times with rookie Kirill Kirsanov, a sign that his value extended beyond the box score and into the kind of minutes that can steady a young defense.

That is the case for Burroughs as a useful stabilizer. It is not yet a case for a seismic change on Dallas’s AHL blue line. The Stars framed him as a physical player who adds depth to the defensive group, and that description fits a roster-management move more than a headline-grabbing acquisition. If Texas ends up using him, the appeal is obvious: a veteran who has already played heavy minutes and can absorb difficult shifts without being overwhelmed.

Burroughs brings a much longer NHL track record than most depth signings. He has played 201 regular-season games for Colorado, Vancouver, San Jose and Los Angeles, with 22 points, 572 hits and 293 blocked shots in the Stars’ announcement. ESPN’s career page lists him with 201 NHL games, 22 points, five goals, 17 assists and 216 penalty minutes, numbers that underline the same profile: a rugged, well-traveled defenseman whose game is built on contact and reliability.

Dallas drafted Burroughs 196th overall in the 2013 NHL Draft, and his resume now reads like that of a player who has lived on the edge of the lineup for years. He returned to AHL play for the first time since 2020-21, when he was with the Colorado Eagles, and his stint in Ontario showed he can still contribute when pushed back down a level.

The fit also lines up with Dallas’s broader offseason approach. The club signed Jamie Benn to a one-year, $850,000 contract on July 3 and has been working through a tight salary cap situation in early July. Burroughs looks like part of that practical build, a low-cost, high-function depth move meant to keep the organization covered when injuries or call-ups start to pull on the roster.