No Question Who Leads Dallas Stars’ 2009-10 Defense: Just Follow Your Nose to Robidas

Robidas' cage look (Pro Ice Hockey, Ronald Martinez)

Nashville forward J. P. Dumont was laid out along the AAC boards on his back on Saturday night, and he wasn’t moving. Dumont was surrounded by the Predators’ trainer and a handful of teammates. Among this silent group, Stars defenseman Stephane Robidas slowly skated in, bent at the waist, stick across his knees. “I just wanted to make sure he was OK,” Robidas said after the game. After all, it was Robidas’ hit – high but clean – that sent Dumont to the ice. “He wasn’t ready. I think his head hit the board first, kind of hit the board awkward.”

Robidas, 32, carries his own souvenirs of NHL hits over 10 years. A broken jaw? A busted nose? Just slap a cage on his helmet for a few games and pencil him into the lineup. Given up on by multiple teams early in his career, Robidas earned the associate captain’s “A” last fall and was an injury replacement in the NHL All-Star Game. He’s now the glue of a defense otherwise occupied by youngsters and veteran newcomers.

“The bottom line is try to lead by example,” said Robidas, signed last week to a contract extension through 2014. “Play hard, and try to play the right way.”

Following Robidas’ example would be a difficult challenge for most NHL players. Small, quick, an offensive-minded defenseman in juniors, the Quebec native was drafted by his beloved Montreal Canadiens in the seventh round and made his NHL debut on Oct. 20, 1999. But on the eve of the 2002-03 season, he began an odyssey that indicated little confidence in his long-term performance: waived by Montreal, claimed by Atlanta, traded to the Stars, sent to Chicago in November ’03 for defenseman Jon Klemm, unsigned by the Blackhawks after the ’03-04 lockout.

Robidas spent the lockout year playing in Germany and was prepared to stay there until the Stars signed him for ’05-06 for the league minimum. General manager Doug Armstrong decided to bring him back thinking the post-lockout rule changes put a greater value on speed among defenders.

Robidas has been a valued performer but has never previously been atop the Stars’ defensive lineup. In his first go-round in Dallas, the club boasted Sergei Zubov, Derian Hatcher and Darryl Sydor. Recently, it has been Zubov, Philippe Boucher, Mattias Norstrom and Sydor again last season via the mid-season trade for Boucher. Norstrom retired. Sydor has left again. Zubov, missing for most of last season, returned home to Russia.

Robidas served as interim defensive leader last season alongside the likes of Trevor Daley, Matt Niskanen, Nicklas Grossman and Mark Fistric. This season, the Stars have brought in 33-year-old Karlis Skrastins from Florida and 26-year-old Jeff Woywitka from St. Louis. Robidas has started paired with Grossman, Skrastins with Daley, Niskanen with Woywitka.

“We have a good group of seven defensemen,” Robidas said. “Try to be there for the younger guys. Sometimes the younger guys have to support the veterans. That’s what makes a team successful.”

Robidas was already signed through this season when he and new GM Joe Nieuwendyk agreed to a four-year extension worth $13.2 million. “They believe I can do the job; I believe I can do the job.” If not, lack of effort won’t be the reason.