Thoughts on Skrastins

I’ll be honest right off the bat - I’ve always liked Karlis Skrastins. Always thought he was a rock solid, rock steady defenseman. So when I saw the TSN report that the Stars had signed him, my initial thought was that I like it. I liked it even more when I saw the money involved, which is just under $1.4 million per season. The Stars got a good player at a good price. That’s important when the team is on a budget.

This is far from a blockbuster signing, but it’s a nice add. Skrastins is a good defensive defenseman who does a lot of those little things that can help a team win. He’s known as someone who blocks shots, takes away passing and shooting lanes and plays a pretty sound positional game. He’s a smart defender with a lot of experience and it’s a good guy to have around a group of young defenseman. He’s a good player who will hlpe make the team better defensively.

Adding Skrastins gives the Stars six NHL defensemen under contract and Mark Fistric, a restricted free agent, still to be signed. That would add to up seven, but I don’t think they stop there. That’s why they are still interested in Sergei Zubov. Of course his status is up in the air. There are reports he is getting interest from several teams. We’ll have to see how that plays out. If he’s healthy, Zubov can still be a very effective player and that’s why he is getting some attention from other teams.

There is nothing new on Jonas Gustavsson, other than him telling Leafs GM Brian Burke he wasn’t ready to make a decision. His Swedish agent told the Toronto Sun it could be a few more days. The Stars are still right in the middle of this, so there’s still a good possibility they could get their guy in goal.

It’s still early in the process, and this is pretty much what I expected from the Stars. They added to their defense by getting someone at a reasonable price. The goaltending issue is still out there, and they are still in the running for Gustavsson. Once that gets resolved and Zubov’s status is settled, we’ll have a lot better idea of where they stand. 

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