Stars finally Re-Sign Fistric

After the news of Jonas Gustavsson signing with Toronto rather than Dallas – there were only two things I was waiting for.  One is and was to see what Zubov is going to end up doing and the other was to see if they could come to a deal with the Restricted Free Agent defenseman.  I started to become worried after the first 3-4 days had gone by with no word on him.  But now it seems that they were just trying to come to a balanced agreement.

They settled on a 3-year deal for 3 million – $750,000 for 2009-10; $1 million for 2010-11; $1.25 million for 2011-12 – According to Andrew’s Page.  This setup continues the trend for the Stars that will give people light front end contracts that get beefier in the next year or two under the assumption that this year will be better, thus meriting a bigger inner-club cap for next year.

• DS.com Release

Note that I’ll post up a “where does this leave us” type post at the end of the night tonight.

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Wowitka Signed

As you know another “depth” defensemen has been signed by our fearless leader in Wowitka from the Blues blueline.

The response?  Well, as you can imagine the community isn’t happy.  I say as you can imagine, because they never are – but asside from that – this is a pretty questionable move when you don’t know the context.  I don’t claim to know anything anyone else doesn’t – so I’m just as in the dark as anyone else.  Given the nature of the one-way contract you have to assume that he is going to be on the active roster in Dallas come the start of the season.

The question is, who is going to be let go? There are various options – and while Stars fans would just love to see one of our only + defensemen from last season go in Daley, I can’t see that happening.  He played his best season last year as he manned up and took charge of the blue line with Robidas in light of rookie defensemen in their second years proving they are rookies and key veterans not being around in Zubov and Boucher, not to mention new faces going in out of the line up on the back end regularly.

I’m not saying he’s the best defenseman in the league but he is a solid 2nd pair d-man with an offensive upside on his good days and he’s getting better. If he keeps getting more and more consistent I don’t see why anyone would move him.  The primary option without a trade is probably going to probably be sending Fistric down if he resigns with Dallas.  With a trade you will probably see either Niskanen or Daley go – I will admit that.  Simply because they are worth something to another team.  However with a trade you have to assume that one of our scoring forwards are going to go as well.  Otherwise the trade would be one defenseman for another and that makes no sense.

So essentially a decent defenseman and a great forward, for a great defenseman and a decent forward in return.  That’s what you’d assume anyway considering we have a pretty deep forward core and our defense is the piece in need.  Well, there is the idea that there would be a goaltender move in it – one of our AHL goalies like Climie and a defenceman for a goaletender, etc.   I suppose.

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Stars Sign Depth Center

Stars signed Warren Peters to a one year, two-way contract.

Peters is a depth center with a gritty style of play.  Anyone can guess that he was signed primarily to fill a spot on the new Texas Stars affiliate team in Austin though in a couple years he might be a decent 4th (maybe 3rd) line center.  One can assume that this won’t be the last of these type of transactions this off-season as the first season for the new AHL affiliate gets closer.

Here’s the release:

Dallas Stars General Manager Joe Nieuwendyk announced today that the club has signed free agent center Warren Peters to a one-year, two-way contract for the 2009-10 season.

“Warren is a gritty center ice-man with underrated skill, and he will bring quality depth to our organization,” said Nieuwendyk. “We look forward to his continued development in our system.”

Peters, 26, skated in 16 games with Calgary last season, collecting a goal and 12 penalty minutes. Peters made his NHL debut on Dec. 7, 2008 at NY Rangers, and scored his first NHL goal on Mar. 3, 2009 at Ottawa. He skated in four Stanley Cup Playoff games with the Flames this spring, going scoreless.

The 6-0, 198-pound center also appeared in 62 games with the AHL Quad City Flames last season, recording 17 points (11 goals, 6 assists) and 51 penalty minutes. His most prolific season at the AHL level came in 2006-07 with Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben, when he posted 17 goals and 16 assists for 33 points in 79 games, all AHL career bests.

The native of Saskatoon, Sask., skated in 330 games for his hometown Blades in the Western Hockey League from 1997-2003, recording 218 points (111 goals, 107 assists) and 542 penalty minutes. He led Saskatoon in assists (44), and was second in goals (31) and points (75) in 2002-03, his final year of junior hockey.

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Skrastins Speaks

The word is the key to winning the veteran defenseman over was the length of the contract.  Not only was Atlanta not willing to give him more than a year but neither were the other contenders – so now he’s a Star.  It makes sense for a guy his age with a family to look for stability first.

“Up until the last moment there were talks with Florida … but the offer was only for one season and Dallas was the club that gave the contract for two years,” Skrastins told eSports.lv. “It means stability for me and my family. And although the money is less than I made last year, it is more than I could get from Florida.”

Is it wrong for me to be slightly disgruntled about this comparison to Florida?

“Dallas was one of my favorite cities on road trips,” Skrastins said. “As a general manager joked – Dallas is the same as Florida, only without the ocean. It’s a very nice city.”

I like to think even with the recent financial turmoil that Dallas is a better hockey town than either of the Florida teams see – but then again I have been known to fits of delusion due to my bias.  That asside I think it’s nice to hear a player praise Dallas for their ability to make a run for the cup this coming year – seems a lot of people think that last year could just be signs of a bad team, not a good team having a bad year.

“It is a good team that can go far,” he said. “I don’t have a lot of time left in the league. I’ve got to go for Cup (laughs).”

It’s also reassuring that we weren’t the only teams interested – which means there is some validity other than speculation when it comes to the trade.

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The Gustavsson Watch: July 2nd

I apologize for the late post, this is a bit of a recap.

Seems Burke’s accidental dedication that found him in Sweden talking to the monster didn’t quite pay off.  According to sources and Burke, the kid is still undecided despite the Toronto GM’s prodding.  His agents say it could still be a few days before he makes a decision, which doesn’t bode well for the Dallas Stars as they are the team who the situation is more volatile for, meanwhile Burke and the Maple Leafs seem to be ready and willing to do whatever it takes to put together a winning team in the Big T – whether it means begging and pleading to Jonas or picking the best of the litter if it falls through.  Meanwhile Dallas’ internal cap will likely limit them when selecting a back-up if Gustavsson does fall through.

You have to understand the inner-turmoil that comes with a decision for any new player coming from Europe who is suddenly put into the spotlight – add the recent death of his mother who wanted him to play in Canada supposedly and it becomes all the more hard.  But that doesn’t make this any less annoying for us fans – or at least not for me.  Ed Belfour is looking better and better – I kid, I kid.

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Stars finally sign someone…

TSN reports that the Dallas Stars have signed Defenseman Karlis Skrastins to a 2-year 2.75 million dollar contract.  Who is Skrastins?

Well, take it or leave it but he’s coming from the Panthers after playing his first full season in about three or four years.  He hits about 15-20 points a year when he plays 80 games.  He pulled a decent year with the +/- last year with the Panthers finishing out at +9 for the season having played 80 of the 82 games.  While he has had quite a few decent seasons over his career his over all +/- finishes out at -40.  The good news on that front is that most of that was built up from some horrible years during his early days after being drafted by Nashville in 99 up until the 03/04 season when he was moved to the Avalanche, since then he’s not gone as low as -9 and peaked at +18 that year.  He also eats up a lot of time at around 20 minutes average a game.  What this does mean is it’s very unlikely Sydor is re-signed – as if that wasn’t obvious by now.  Either way we’ll get to see him in action whether we like or not on opening night of the 09/10 season.  That is unless he hurts his neck in training camp, of course.

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Dallas Gives Lehtinen Another Year

Dallas has signed cornerstone veteran Jere Lehtinen to a 1 year contract that includes 1.5 million for the year with up to 1 million in incentives.

“We are extremely pleased to welcome Jere Lehtinen back with our club next season,” said Nieuwendyk. “He has been one of the cornerstones of this franchise for many years, and we feel he will continue to be a significant contributor going forward. Jere is a consummate professional on and off the ice, and we look forward to his healthy return next season.”

Read the whole story on the Dallas Stars official site here: http://stars.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=432319

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