Believe it or not, Tuesday will mark the first regular-season appearance for former Dallas Stars defenseman Stephane Robidas as a visitor at American Airlines Center.
Robidas, who signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs on July 1 as a free agent, of course returned to the AAC with the Anaheim Ducks last spring during the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but that return was far from happy as "Robi" suffered a broken leg and missed the rest of the playoffs.
But during the first television timeout on Tuesday night, the Stars will honor their former longtime defenseman with what figures to be a touching and fitting video tribute.
"I haven't heard anything (about it)," Robidas said after morning skate. "I spent most of my career here. My life was here. Everything went well here with the organization. I even left on really good terms. They were honest and fair with me the whole way and I got nothing but good things to say about the city of Dallas and the organization."
Toronto heads into the game Tuesday on a three-game losing streak and will face a Stars team who has won four straight, including all three games on a road swing through Western Canada that ended on Sunday with a come-from-behind 6-5 shootout win at the Edmonton Oilers.
Robidas is naturally focused on the task at hand, helping the Leafs give what head coach Randy Carlyle termed an opportunity to give themselves a nice Christmas gift with a victory.
But he has been through this before, facing a former team and knows that is always an emotional experience no matter the circumstances surrounding his first regular-season game at the AAC since being traded last March.
"Yeah, it's never easy to play against your old team and I got to experience it in the playoffs about a month after I got traded to Anaheim last year and that was really hard.," Robidas said. "You're playing against guys that you played with for years and that you've battled through and tried to make the playoffs with them for most of the year. Obviously, it was really hard. It was no different the first time we played them in Toronto. It's always special, but I just want to try and help the team win. That's it."
Robidas, 37, logged 700 games in Dallas during two separate stints with the organization and he credits several of his former coaches and teammates for helping him develop into the sort of defenseman he became.
"Well, I think Rick Wilson, the d coach, spent a lot of time with him. He's a really good d coach, an assistant coach for a long time here, pretty much my whole time here in Dallas. Dave Tippett was the head coach and helped me a lot too," Robidas said.
He added: "When I came in, nobody really knew me in the organization but Guy Carbonneau's the one that brought me to Montreal. They gave me a chance to play in the NHL and that's all I wanted. I had to start all over again, but we had a really good team and chance to play with guys like Derian Hatcher, Sergei Zubov, Darryl Sydor, Mike Modano, Jason Arnott, Pierre Turgeon. The list goes on and on. It was a good fit for me I think."
Carlyle didn't play Robidas in the Leafs' 4-0 loss at the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday, resting his veteran d-man with Tuesday's return to Big D on his mind.
"Yeah, again that was part and parcel in the decision the other night, a back-to-back and we played with Philly the night before and going into Chicago on a short change we wanted to make sure we give Stephane every opportunity to be rested and give us his best game tonight in this building," Carlyle said.
And considering he had last game off and with an apt tribute to a guy who gave all he had to the Stars organization looming, it's a game Robidas is ready to experience.
"Yeah, well rested. Yeah, for sure (anxious to go)," he said.
