MantaRay Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Stevens, Nieds and who is the third you have ranked above him? Dano, only because his #3 is retired. Statistically Rafi should be HOF eligible. He was that good, but overshadowed his entire career, much like Nieds before going to ANA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mxm262 Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Great now I want to go to an ECHL game they don't have a team in Trenton anymore Even if, a visit from Florida was rare. A lot of games were against Reading or Elmira Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Brown Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 And after they left people killed Rafalski because he wasn't a true #1 defenseman, though that was probably true he was definitely much better than the guys masquerading as #1's the next few years for us after he left. Even Lou underappreciated him to a degree. I never noticed that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hystyk28 Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Everblades NHL affiliates are Tampa and Carolina, so there are some connections to Rafalski, particularly Yzerman. I can see both of those teams taking a chance on Rafalski. Once he gets in game shape, playing D for a guy like that is just like riding a bike. He would be a perfect mentor for Larsson. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Namelesz Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Interesting, I should be near where his ECHL team plays in mid Feb so I might have to catch one of their games. I'll be sure to be the only guy in the arena with a Devils jersey on, haha! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucifersDog Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 If Lou is around next season he will sign Rafaliski to a 5 year contract with a NMC !!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neb00rs Posted January 10, 2014 Author Share Posted January 10, 2014 Rafalski was my favorite Devil for a while. Always liked him a lot. I do remember a lot of Devil fans complaining about him just before he left...that he shot too many pucks into opposing players' skates, that he didn't have a hard enough shot, etc. With respect, I do remember YOU complaining about that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colorado Rockies 1976 Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 With respect, I do remember YOU complaining about that. His last season, I probably did...I do remember that making me insane at times. I remember not being that upset when he left...especially for what Detroit signed him for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neb00rs Posted January 11, 2014 Author Share Posted January 11, 2014 His last season, I probably did...I do remember that making me insane at times. I remember not being that upset when he left...especially for what Detroit signed him for. Hey, don't get me wrong - I wouldn't have given him that Red Wings contract. Not a chance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Brown Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 Can anybody remember if Lou made an offer to him? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neb00rs Posted January 11, 2014 Author Share Posted January 11, 2014 Can anybody remember if Lou made an offer to him? If I remember correctly, we were rumored to have offered him in the mid-4's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Brown Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 If I remember correctly, we were rumored to have offered him in the mid-4's. I was under the assumption that Detroit's offer blew our offer out of the water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neb00rs Posted January 11, 2014 Author Share Posted January 11, 2014 I was under the assumption that Detroit's offer blew our offer out of the water. Huh? It did. They gave him 6 million per and 5 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim777 Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 Devils fans respect Rafalski very much. He left for Detroit and I don't know of any Devils fan angry at him like we were when Parise left. Rafalski left to play for the team he rooted for and loved above all else when he was a kid. Parise left to play for a team that didn't even exist when he was a kid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Brown Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 Rafalski left to play for the team he rooted for and loved above all else when he was a kid. Parise left to play for a team that didn't even exist when he was a kid. They both went back to their home towns. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJDevs4978 Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 (edited) Hey, don't get me wrong - I wouldn't have given him that Red Wings contract. Not a chance. Except it wouldn't have required the Red Wing contract to retain him...we made a perfunctory who cares offer and that was it, I think even a small raise from his current contract that was well short of what he got in Detroit would have been enough to keep him before FA. As it was, he STILL might have come back in the end if Detroit didn't lose Mathieu Schnieder on the first day of FA and then throw a ton of money at Raf as a replacement. Edited January 11, 2014 by NJDevs4978 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 Before reading the article I never realized how religious he is. Was he that way when he was playing for us? Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neb00rs Posted January 11, 2014 Author Share Posted January 11, 2014 Except it wouldn't have required the Red Wing contract to retain him...we made a perfunctory who cares offer and that was it, I think even a small raise from his current contract that was well short of what he got in Detroit would have been enough to keep him before FA. As it was, he STILL might have come back in the end if Detroit didn't lose Mathieu Schnieder on the first day of FA and then throw a ton of money at Raf as a replacement. I completely agree. While it's hard to know what actually happened behind the scenes, Rafalski certainly was looking to stay in NJ and most likely would have taken a discount. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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