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Dallas Stars Blogger •
I was trying to wait for Monster news to do a full recap, but the man just won't cooperate. Instead let us focus on Karlis Skrastins for a moment.
Skrastins signed with the Stars for 2 years on the second day of free agency. He will earn 1.1 million in 2009 and 1.65 million in 2010. Karlis is one of 12 Latvian players to ever play in the NHL. He came up with the Predators at the end of the century, and he's put together a solid career as a defensive defender. He is a shot blocking machine on the back end. When healthy he routinely finishes in the top 10 in the league in blocked shots. In 2005/2006 Skrastins finished 2nd in the league.
Skrastins isn't the top 4 defender the club needs, but he can be expected to be a solid contributor on the penalty kill and 3rd pairing. He definitely fills a need. What his signing tells us (if the story about the Texas Rangers borrowing 15 million from MLB didn't) is that the Stars budget isn't very high. They sought out a solid affordable defender that can help make them tougher to play against. Skrastins certainly should do that.
His signing was also affordable enough that it shouldn't impact Sergei Zubov. Reportedly some teams are beginning to show interest in Sergei, but it's expected that he will bring the offer back to the Stars to see if they'll match it. If Zubov does come back there will be a lot of competition in camp for playing time with 8 or 9 defenders fighting. Zubov, Skrastins, Robidas, Fistric, Niskanen, Grossman, Daley, and Visnevskiy would be an interesting battle if it comes to that. Even if Zubov doesn't come back the battle should be interesting.
If it comes down to that who loses playing time or how do they split the time up? Assuming Vishnevskiy goes to the AHL, who becomes the 7th defender?
Skrastins signed with the Stars for 2 years on the second day of free agency. He will earn 1.1 million in 2009 and 1.65 million in 2010. Karlis is one of 12 Latvian players to ever play in the NHL. He came up with the Predators at the end of the century, and he's put together a solid career as a defensive defender. He is a shot blocking machine on the back end. When healthy he routinely finishes in the top 10 in the league in blocked shots. In 2005/2006 Skrastins finished 2nd in the league.
Skrastins isn't the top 4 defender the club needs, but he can be expected to be a solid contributor on the penalty kill and 3rd pairing. He definitely fills a need. What his signing tells us (if the story about the Texas Rangers borrowing 15 million from MLB didn't) is that the Stars budget isn't very high. They sought out a solid affordable defender that can help make them tougher to play against. Skrastins certainly should do that.
His signing was also affordable enough that it shouldn't impact Sergei Zubov. Reportedly some teams are beginning to show interest in Sergei, but it's expected that he will bring the offer back to the Stars to see if they'll match it. If Zubov does come back there will be a lot of competition in camp for playing time with 8 or 9 defenders fighting. Zubov, Skrastins, Robidas, Fistric, Niskanen, Grossman, Daley, and Visnevskiy would be an interesting battle if it comes to that. Even if Zubov doesn't come back the battle should be interesting.
If it comes down to that who loses playing time or how do they split the time up? Assuming Vishnevskiy goes to the AHL, who becomes the 7th defender?
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