Stephane Robidas
| 2011-2012 Season | GP | Goals | Assists | Points | +/- | Shots on Goal | PP Goals | PP Assists | TOI/G | PIM |
| Stephane Robidas | 75 | 5 | 17 | 22 | -5 | 75 | 2 | 7 | 22:46 | 48 |
It was another tough year for Stephane Robidas this season. The veteran Stars defenseman fought through his usual myriad of injuries and crushing hits to prove once again that he’s the toughest S.O.B on this team. Unfortunately, his age really showed this season and it’s glaringly apparent that he’s just not cut out for a role as a first pair defensemen for this team anymore.
Robidas was getting beaten or lost more often this season than any other that I can remember. He was just out of place for so many opposing scoring chances and would just flat out lose his man in coverage so often. He’s just too slow now to keep up with the faster players in the league and he became a turnstile out there. A first pairing of Robidas and Trevor Daley or Sheldon Souray may have been the best this team could offer as the best pair of defensemen, but that only led to fans wanting a lot more. His poor defensive play was only compounded by some of his worst offensive numbers in his career.
I’m not sure what happened this season, but Robidas just didn’t have it offensively this season. He had 17 assists (worst since ’07-’08), 22 points (worst since ’06-’07) and managed only 75 shots on goal (worst since ’02-’03). It’s the first time in the past five years that he didn’t reach at least 100 shots on goal and the lowest total since his first season as a Dallas Star (the ’02-’03 year). He just wasn’t looking dangerous enough out there and wasn’t creating the chances that he might have done in years past.
This is probably more the coaches fault than his, but for some inconceivable reason Robidas was on the first power play unit and working as one of the pointmen (which makes it all the more baffling how he didn’t get more shots on net). He was a huge contributor (or non-contributor) to a historically bad power-play and he only registered nine points on the man-advantage despite working on the first unit. It’s something that absolutely cannot happen next season.
His best month came probably in February. He was engaged in the offense (he had 24 shots, his most of any month) and managed five points, which is still low but it was his second highest total of the year. Aside from his offensive struggles, Robidas did have some of his usual good points. He willingly threw his body out there night-in and night-out to try and help out the team. He was third on the team in hits (second among defensemen) with 191 and he was second on the team in blocked shots, just five behind Daley’s team leading 115. He played the second-most minutes out of anyone on the team, again just behind Daley and he led the team in shorthanded time on ice. He was a major part of a penalty kill that was great for most of the season.
Robidas just didn’t have the year he wanted though and it’s not going to be getting any better. He’s signed onto this team for two more seasons at $3.3 million per year and will be 38 by the time his contract is over. Despite his decline, he still might be a first pair defenseman for this team next year, but I feel like the Stars should just cut their losses and let him go. He’s not going to be a part of the future of this team and he’s taking up a good chunk of salary cap room that can be used elsewhere. For this year though, Robidas gets a C from me that’s really close to a C-. The Stars have to have better than him next season.
