According to TSN's Darren Dreger, the Dallas Stars have agreed to contract terms with newly acquired defenseman Sergei Gonchar. The 39-year old veteran of 1,177 regular season and 135 NHL playoff games has reportedly agreed to pre-empt his impending unrestricted free agency after coming to terms on two-year deal. The contract will carry a $5 million cap hit per season.

Gonchar is coming off a resurgent season for Ottawa, in which he stepped in the absence of injured Erik Karlsson to produce 27 points in 45 games and play an average 23:59 per game (18:02 even strength, 3:43 power play, 2:14 penalty kill).

The Stars missed Sheldon Souray in the 2013 season following his free agent departure to Anaheim. Gonchar is a different sort of defenseman in some ways but he is similar in that he's a threat to create offense from the point and in being an experienced veteran to supplement the leadership of fellow aging veteran Stephane Robidas (who is signed for one more season). Although the 6-foot-2, 210 pound Gonchar has never been known as a physical player, he will at least bring some size along with his proven offensive talents to what was an undersized Dallas blueline this past season.

The acquisition of Gonchar for two seasons gives the Stars some flexibility on the top end of the blueline. It takes some offensive pressure off Alex Goligoski -- who has pressed at times in each of the last two seasons -- to run the show on the power play. It saves a bit of wear-and-tear on Robidas to be the team's de facto number one all-around defenseman in tough situations. It also allows the Stars to have a more natural offensive defenseman than Trevor Daley in a main role of triggering the rush.

All the acquisition of Gonchar cost the Stars, tradewise, was a sixth-round Draft pick. It was some nice handiwork by new general manager Jim Nill.

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