Dallas Stars sign D Karlis Skrastins

by Brandon Worley on Jul 2, 2009 1:29 PM CDT in NHL Free Agency

The Dallas Stars have signed defenseman Karlis Skrastins to a 2 year, $2.75 million contract. They made the formal announcement Thursday afternoon.

“We are pleased to have reached an agreement with Karlis Skrastins on a two-year contract,” said Nieuwendyk. “He is coming off a solid season with the Florida Panthers, and he is a proven NHL veteran that brings durability, experience, leadership, toughness and stability to our group of defensemen.”

- Stars GM Joe Nieuwendyk

Skrastins is a solid defenseman, with good size and good skating ability. He's been a journeyman of sorts, spending time in his career with Nashville, Colorado and Florida. This past season was possibly his most complete, with the 2003-04 season in Colorado being his best statistically (82 GP, 5G, 8A, +18). Stars fans should be familiar with Skrastins, since he was part of the Avalanche teams that were consistently beating Dallas in the playoffs a few years ago.

It's a good price for a defenseman who will provide a much needed veteran presence on the team, which Mike Heika equips to a Mattias Norstrom type player. Don't expect anything flashy or amazing from him. What you will get from Skrastins is a defenseman that makes few mistakes, eats up a lot of minutes and is a great candidate to help the young defenseman learn and grow as they become more experienced.

Unfortunately this may mean the Stars do not re-sign Sergei Zubov, although it's still possible at this point.

[UPDATE by Brandon Worley] Mike Heika mentions in the comments section at the DMN Stars blog that the signing of Skrastins should not affect the re-signing of Zubov, although it most likely means that Sydor is officially gone. Again. He also says that the Stars will most likely play Vishnevskiy in the AHL for the first few months of the season, get him used to playing the role of the #1 defenseman before making the jump to the NHL.

Follow the jump for Karlis Skrastins' information and stats, and the Dallas Stars press release.

Dallas Stars General Manager Joe Nieuwendyk announced today that the club has signed free agent defenseman Karlis Skrastins to a two-year contract, worth $2.75 million ($1.1 million in 2009-10 and $1.65 million in 2010-11).

"We are pleased to have reached an agreement with Karlis Skrastins on a two-year contract," said Nieuwendyk. "He is coming off a solid season with the Florida Panthers, and he is a proven NHL veteran that brings durability, experience, leadership, toughness and stability to our group of defensemen."

Skrastins, 34, skated in 80 games for Florida last season, collecting four goals and 14 assists for 18 points with 30 penalty minutes. His assist and point totals in 2008-09 were both career highs. He led the Panthers with 171 blocked shots, ranking ninth overall in the league in that category.

The 6-1, 210-pound defenseman has skated in 679 career NHL games with the Nashville Predators, Colorado Avalanche and Florida Panthers, posting 27 goals and 88 assists for 115 points with 313 penalty minutes. He also appeared in 20 career Stanley Cup Playoff games, all with Colorado in 2004 and 2006, recording three assists and 12 PIM.

Originally drafted by Nashville in the ninth round (No. 230 overall) in the 1998 Entry Draft, Skrastins holds the NHL record for consecutive games played by a defenseman - 495 straight games from February 2000 through February 2007.

A native of Riga, Latvia, Skrastins has skated for his country at the 2002 and 2006 Winter Olympic Games, and has appeared in the World Championships on nine occasions, most recently 2009.

Height: 6-1

Weight: 210

Born: Jul 09, 1974 (34 yrs old)

Shoots: Left

NHL Seasons: 10

Season	Team	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PP	SH	GW	S	S%
1998-1999	Predators	2	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0
1999-2000	Predators	59	5	6	11	-7	20	1	0	2	51	9.8
2000-2001	Predators	82	1	11	12	-12	30	0	0	1	66	1.5
2001-2002	Predators	82	4	13	17	-12	36	0	0	1	84	4.8
2002-2003	Predators	82	3	10	13	-18	44	0	1	0	86	3.5
2003-2004	Avalanche	82	5	8	13	18	26	0	1	1	102	4.9
2005-2006	Avalanche	82	3	11	14	-7	65	0	2	0	58	5.2
2006-2007	Avalanche	68	0	11	11	0	30	0	0	0	65	0.0
2007-2008	Avalanche	43	1	3	4	-2	20	0	0	0	34	2.9
2007-2008	Panthers	17	1	0	1	-9	12	0	0	1	11	9.1
2008-2009	Panthers	80	4	14	18	9	30	0	0	0	55	7.3
NHL Totals:		679	27	88	115	-40	313	1	4	6	612	4.4

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Comments

This could help. It could. Definitely taking a wait and see approach on this one.

Norstrum? You mean every team will figure out the trick where you flip the puck up in the air, over his head and into the corner. Then when he sloooooowly turns around to go chase it, you skate right by him?

by Brad Gardner on Jul 2, 2009 1:34 PM CDT reply actions

Lol...

I think that was meant as he would be more a calming, veteran presence on the blue line. Despite his shortcomings later in his career, this defense struggled to overcome his loss when he retired.

Defending Big D: A Dallas Stars blog on SBN: easy to use, free to join.

by Brandon Worley on Jul 2, 2009 1:39 PM CDT up reply actions

Come on...

That was Norstrum’s go to move!

I can’t say I’ve ever paid attention to Skrastins much. His +/- numbers throughout his career are inconclusive, I think. If he can be a solid stay at home kind of guy then he can be very useful along side Daley or Robidas. Someone more mobile. The fact that we missed Norstrum so much last year was a surprise to me, but it’s undeniable.

Ideally we would like to see defensive help that also solves PP problems, and this clearly isn’t it. We don’t have the money for that I guess. I can’t wait to see what Crawford will do with the PP.

by Brad Gardner on Jul 2, 2009 1:52 PM CDT up reply actions

Ivan Vishnevskiy could be an asset to the PP.

He has a booming shot, great vision and great skating ability. He just needs to learn to control his tendancies.

They could put Vish next to Skrastins. That would be interesting.

Defending Big D: A Dallas Stars blog on SBN: easy to use, free to join.

by Brandon Worley on Jul 2, 2009 1:58 PM CDT up reply actions

Heika seems to think (see his comment section) that they want Vishnevsky to have a good minor league experience in Austin, learning how to be a #1.

by Brad Gardner on Jul 2, 2009 2:06 PM CDT up reply actions

Yeah.

That’s a good conversation for the future.

Defending Big D: A Dallas Stars blog on SBN: easy to use, free to join.

by Brandon Worley on Jul 2, 2009 2:08 PM CDT up reply actions

Undecided

Not sure on how I feel about this yet…I guess I’ll wait and see like everyone else how it turns out.

by Dwade03 on Jul 2, 2009 3:11 PM CDT reply actions

Dallas stars email reports the signing.. two year deal

by rburk32981 on Jul 2, 2009 3:15 PM CDT reply actions

It's now "official" and now..

… I can feel free to comment.

I like this signing. If it becomes the ‘replacement’ for Sydor than I like it even more! Skrastins is a very solid stay-at-home blueliner and Nieuwendyk is very familiar with him in Florida.

by Art Middleton on Jul 2, 2009 3:17 PM CDT reply actions

monster

do we have any updates on the monster?

by sundancekid on Jul 2, 2009 3:20 PM CDT reply actions

The Toronto Sun

Says it will be at least a few more days.

http://www.torontosun.com/sports/hockey/2009/07/02/10004581.html

So it looks like Art_M will be our backup goaltender next year ;)

by Brad Gardner on Jul 2, 2009 3:31 PM CDT reply actions

I fill out a net well and that’s about it… Still with that only going for me I bet I could post a better save percentage than Yutaka Fukufuji…

by Art Middleton on Jul 2, 2009 3:54 PM CDT up reply actions

nice pickup

Stars made a nice pickup with Skrastins. He will be a nice dependable D-man.
Stars get some much needed veteran leadership and a shot blocker.
Now they need to get a dependable backup.

by JPMoe on Jul 3, 2009 1:11 AM CDT reply actions