When the season came to a close and Pete DeBoer spoke in his exit interview Tuesday, he gave Chris Tanev what he called the highest possible compliment.

“He changed our team when he came in — in a lot of different ways,” he said. “We were a different team from that point on. That’s because of all the things he brought to the table.”

Before adding Tanev ahead of the March trade deadline, Dallas was a middle-of-the-pack defensive team, ranking 14th in goals against per game (3.03). After Tanev joined the roster, the Stars climbed to second in the league for the last month of the season in that category (2.11). In the playoffs, they finished fifth (2.53).

Tanev proved to be the perfect fit for the Stars, justifying why he was so highly sought after by GM Jim Nill during the trade season. While he nearly helped Dallas reach the Stanley Cup Final, he and the team came up short of their goals, and now, they’ll have to pull some strings to keep him.

Tanev said in his own exit interview that he’d be happy to stay in Dallas for another year.

“I had a great time here. The organization treated me awesome. Coaches were great. I learned a lot. It was a great journey,” he said. “Hopefully, I’m able to stay here. I had a great time. My family had a great time here. We’ll see how that goes. It’s still obviously really early.”

DeBoer expressed the same sentiment.

“We’d love to have him back,” he said.

But Tanev’s future in Dallas will come down to salary cap and whether the team has room for his contract.

Nill put on a masterclass in negotiations when he landed Tanev in late February. He didn’t give up any first-round draft picks, rostered players or top prospects in the three-team trade with Calgary and New Jersey. He also managed to have those two teams retain 75% of Tanev’s $4.5 million cap hit. Dallas was only responsible for $1.125 million this year.

That won’t be the case next year if the Stars choose to re-sign Tanev. After the year he had, the Stars will likely have to pay at least four times what they did for him this year.

But Tanev could be worth it. With Joe Pavelski likely stepping away from the game, that’ll keep some cap space available. The future of other unrestricted free agents like Jani Hakanpää will play a role as well.

While the Stars are still recovering from Sunday’s crushing loss, the conversations around Tanev are set to begin soon. His time in Dallas may amount to just three months, or he could become a key piece in another deep playoff run next year.

“I had my role, which was awesome. Really good team obviously,” he said. “It’s a team set up for success for quite some time with how good the players are, the different age groups of players and how the young guys have progressed and are going to be elite players in the league. As far as that, I’m super fortunate I was able to be here.”

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