Defense has been a bit of an issue for the Stars lately. In Dallas, there is Robidas, Skrastins and aside from Nicklas Grossman, a whole bunch of kids that have a fair amount of NHL experience who aren't ready to face the vaunt. The team desperately needs a stable defender to face top competition, one that's able to help the Stars' penalty kill and bring effectiveness to the power play. The current group is one of the major reasons that the Stars sit five points out of a playoff spot.

Enter Sheldon Souray. I've lobbied for a Souray to Dallas trade twice before and I still believe that the Stars are the Oilers best trading partner at the deadline.

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From the dashing Gabriel Desjardins and his Behind The Net comes the following:



GP

TOI/60

QC Rk

QT Rk

Corsi/60

EV +/-

PP GF/60

PK GA/60

Stephane Robidas

49

17.42 4 4

.91 .14 6.01 9.10

Karlis Skrastins

47

16.37 2 6 -8.11 -1.01

N/M 6.62

Matt Niskanen

45

14.78

5

5 12.00 -.54

6.30 N/M Trevor Daley

44

16.98

3

7 -7.31 -.56

2.97 7.13 Nicklas Grossman

43

16.29

1

2 -1.03 .26

N/M 9.19 Mark Fistric

40

13.18

6

1 2.39 1.25

N/M N/M Jeff Woywitka

20

12.44

7

3 12.54 -.96 N/M N/M

Grossman isn't doing badly against the toughs, but Skrastins and Daley are struggling. Bringing in an experienced defender to take the load would make the Stars much more difficult to play against. The minutes would get easier on everyone down the line and that should allow this group to get closer to a draw against their opponents.



GP

TOI/60

QC Rk

QT Rk

Corsi/60

EV +/-

PP GF/60

PK GA/60

Sheldon Souray - 2010

33

16.22

1

2 2.02 -1.12 5.07 9.86 Sheldon Souray - 2009

81

15.73

1

4 -1.32 .09 6.72 6.21

Souray has played the toughs two years running and is playing them to a draw on the ice, unfortunately, his goaltending is doing him in this year. His even strength save percentage has fallen from .927 last year to .894 this year. His penalty kill save percentage is an even more brutal .800. Remember though the goaltending situation was completely unforeseeable, thank you very much Steve Tambellini. With any talent on the power play and with even a crash test dummy in goal, Souray becomes Dallas' best even strength defender, their best power play option and their best penalty killer.

This is a match made in heaven for both teams. Dallas needs a first-pairing defender, Edmonton needs cap space and a roster player of some repute and can take on expiring contracts, and Sheldon Souray needs to stay in the west. Stars GM Joe Nieuwendyk is on an ownership-imposed spending cap, but Marty Turco's $5,700,000 contract comes off of the books soon and once again, goaltending will be cheap in the off-season.