The Dallas Stars have made quite a few offseason splashes over the past few seasons.

While their most significant high-profile move was undoubtedly the team’s acquisition of centreman Tyler Seguin – who’s since gone on to form one half of the league’s most potent scoring duo alongside captain Jamie Benn – he wasn’t the team’s only elite get at the centre position.

Stars General Manager Jim Nill also brought in former Ottawa Senators captain Jason Spezza, aiming to give his club a high-end secondary option behind the Tyler Seguin-Jamie Benn line.

Spezza wasn’t a bust in his first season with the Stars. The 32-year-old pivot suited up for all 82 games and posted 62 points. However, many have pegged the deal as a bad one considering the hefty price tag that came with that performance.

Every time Jim Nill does anything I think wow, he's one of the smartest GMs in the NHL, and then I go "oh, right the Jason Spezza contract". — Down Goes Brown (@DownGoesBrown) July 15, 2015

Spezza was worth the original haul that Dallas traded to Ottawa to acquire him — a package consisting of Alex Chiasson, Alex Guptill, Nicolas Paul and a second-round pick in 2015 — as Spezza remains an elite offensive force and a veteran leader for the team. However, last November saw Spezza sign a four-year/$30 million contract extension with the Stars. A deal that pays him $7.5 million per season.

How exactly does Spezza’s contract affect the team moving forward?

It seems like quite a large price-point for a 62-point center — Spezza will be the Stars’ highest-paid player next season — but there are a few issues with this perception. Firstly, Spezza’s offensive totals from last season can’t be taken as a true measurement of his potential with the organization.

Only three seasons ago, he posted 34 goals and 84 points for the Senators, a sum that ranked him fourth in the NHL scoring race by season’s end. His best campaign came back in 2007-08, when the talented centreman racked up 92 points in only 76 games. His skills may be slightly declining as he approaches his mid-30’s, but Spezza remains one of the game’s most dynamic offensive forces. He may not be the cream of the NHL’s offensive crop but he remains among the leaders of the league’s second tier of scorers, making him the perfect candidate for Dallas’ second-line centre role.

He should be able to bring some consistent secondary scoring while also contributing a fair bit on the powerplay as well. Spezza’s 37 career game-winning goals will come in handy too, especially as the Stars complete their ascension into the West’s playoff picture. While the former Senators star’s first season brought only a mediocre offensive total (by Spezza’s standards), much of that was due to the trouble the club had with getting all their talented scorers to adjust to each other and find their roles.

With a full season under his belt in Dallas, Spezza should be able to head into 2015-16 with a better sense of what exactly his role is. Moreover, while he worked primarily with Erik Cole and Ales Hemsky last season, he’ll get an upgrade in 2015-16 with promising winger Valeri Nichushkin returning to the fold, and veteran scorer Patrick Sharp figuring to earn some powerplay time with Spezza as well.

That being the case, if Spezza is able to raise his output from the 60-point range up to the 70 or 80-point range, his $7.5 million per year won’t seem quite as bad at all. Especially with the salary cap continuing to rise and the leading NHL contracts following suit.

The main factor that makes Spezza’s contract presently seem unreasonable is that he’s set to make more than the team’s two leading scorers in Seguin and Benn. But this says more about the fact that Seguin and Benn are unbelievable bargains than about Spezza being overpaid.

The Stars’ elite scoring duo will each make less than $6 million next season, with Seguin earning $5.75 million and Benn earning $5.25 million. Considering Benn just took home the Art Ross Trophy last season and Seguin will likely vie for the same trophy in 2015-16, Dallas will be getting an absolute steal for the next two seasons (after which, Benn is up for an extension), as both players are surely worth over $8 million per year.

Benn should earn a higher salary soon, after his current deal expires following 2016-17. However, Seguin is signed until 2018-19, meaning he’ll likely be own the league’s best bargain contract for much of his tenure in Dallas.

It seems Spezza’s deal is not a bust at all. He’s performed well in Dallas so far, and should only improve in 2015-16 as the Stars find more overall success. With other contracts around the league skyrocketing in price, Spezza’s extension is quickly becoming a more reasonable sum, and any sense of overpayment has certainly be mitigated, from a team standpoint, by the exceptionally good deals that the Stars have Seguin and Benn signed to.

Look for Spezza and Nichushkin to form a respectable scoring duo in their own right next season, as the Stars begin year one of their inevitable contender status.