This morning the Stars announced that they have signed D Stephane Robidas to a 4 year extension worth 3.3 million a year. Roby gets a fairly significant, and well deserved, raise. It's a good contract for a guy the Stars know they can count on to play 20 minutes a night. He vaults ahead of Trevor Daley as the Stars highest paid defender.

He's paid like a solid #3 defender now which is exactly what he is capable of. On the open market a defender like Robidas can skyrocket in value seemingly out of nowhere. This is the type of guy you lock up. He's a solid leader on the ice. He has shown the ability to play through injuries. He plays 20 minutes a night. He plays in all situations. What isn't to like?

His extension got me to thinking though. After hearing about it I was curious to find out how much money the Stars D corps made as a whole. Before he signed his extension they made roughly 8.6 million combined.

I repeat: 8.6 million dollars. It shouldn't be surprising considering the overall youth of the group, but it is certainly jarring to read that number.

The entire Stars D corps made less than Alexander Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, or Evgeny Malkin before the Robidas extension which sounded preposterous to me. Now that I think about it though I would trade the Stars D corps for Ovechkin, Crosby, or Malkin in a second so I guess it isn't that nuts.

With the Robidas extension the Stars are still dead last in defensive payroll at 10,450,000. Five different teams have two defenders making more than the Stars entire D corps. I used Hockeybuzz's Cap Central. I counted 7 defenders per roster. If the teams had more than 7 I dropped the lowest. With Washington I dropped Alzner. I've compiled the results below for those interested:

DALLAS: 10,450,000

Anaheim: 17,571,667
Atlanta: 18,225,000
Boston: 18,887,500
Buffalo: 12,862,500
Calgary: 23,123,334 2> Dallas D
Carolina: 15,137,500
Chicago: 19,342,541
Colorado: 21,500,000
Columbus: 11,950,694
Detroit: 24,305,000 2 > Dallas D
Edmonton: 23,600,000 2> Dallas D
Florida: 18,900,000
LA Kings: 13,083,333
Minnesota: 18,433,333
Montreal: 21,050,000 2> Dallas D
Nashville: 12,700,000
New Jersey: 14,233,333
New York Isles: 13,453,333
New York Rangers: 17,928,334 2> Dallas D
Ottawa: 14,902,333
Philly: 20,070,833 2> Dallas
Phoenix: 16,562,500
Pittsburgh: 14,793,333
San Jose: 17,466,667 5 dmen
St Louis: 18,308,333
Tampa Bay: 15,183,333
Toronto: 23,316,667
Vancouver: 21,450,000
Washington: 16,500,000 Alzner excluded

The average team spends 16,880,130.03 on its defense. The Stars are 6,430,300.03 below average spending-wise on defense. They're spending 1,450,000 less than the second lowest (Nashville). Needless to say, there's a reason the defense has looked average at best at times as a unit. They pretty clearly have a need for at least one top pairing defender. The expectation is that one of the younger defenders will step up into that role, but that isn't a given. If that doesn't happen the Stars have plenty of cap room down the line to add one.

More later
josh.lile@hockeybuzz.com

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