The Dallas Stars made the biggest splash of NHL trade deadline day when they traded for Mikko Rantanen. Unlike the Carolina Hurricanes, Dallas had an extension in place when they acquired Rantanen. With his $12 million cap hit on the books for next year, they moved on to their next piece of business. The Stars have signed Wyatt Johnston to a massive contract extension, per Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.

“Wyatt Johnston and Dallas are completing a 5 x $8.4M extension,” Friedman reported.

Johnston becomes one of the highest-paid players on the Stars at just 21 years old. As one of the best two-way players in the game, he has earned a pay increase and he got one. With the cap going up next year and Jamie Benn's big contract coming off the books, Dallas had the money for these two big contracts.

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Johnston signed for only five years, less than the maximum length of eight years. This contract buys out all of his restricted free-agency years and sets him up to hit unrestricted free agency at 27 years old. When he does, he will have $42 million in his pocket and likely some playoff experience with this loaded Dallas team.

The Stars had already made a trade for Mikael Granlund and Cody Ceci before the 4 Nations Face-Off. But Granlund has not improved their scoring as they had hoped, with no tallies in 11 games. So bringing in Rantanen and locking in Johnston sets up their offense for a deep playoff run.

Other Central Division teams improved at the NHL trade deadline as well. The Avalanche brought in Brock Nelson and Charlie Coyle and the Jets added Luke Schenn and Brandon Tanev. But none of those players will have the impacts that Rantanen and Johnston will over the next half-decade with the Stars.