Rafalski a Red Wing: 5-years, $30-million

[Superman54 91]

Reading some of the comments on this board, some of you really need to do your research. Rafalski is probably one of the most underrated Dmen in this league.

Very true. If we didn't sign Rafalski they would have been bitching about how our defense will suck this year. I mean who else is Kenny gonna get to replace Matt unless we go for Souray, who would probably demand 6.5 million anyways. This signing was great in my eyes. I have no doubt in Kenny's decisions.

[Manoir 70]

Don't like this move. The Wings need to get tougher along the boards, I think Smyth would have been a better signing.

Yes, Lidstrom may be gone in a few years. However, why does anyone think other d-men won't be available then?

[Guest Crymson]

Don't like this move. The Wings need to get tougher along the boards, I think Smyth would have been a better signing.

Yes, Lidstrom may be gone in a few years. However, why does anyone think other d-men won't be available then?

If you're looking for someone tough along the boards, Smyth will not be your first choice.

Edited July 2, 2007 by Crymson

[Superman54 91]

Don't like this move. The Wings need to get tougher along the boards, I think Smyth would have been a better signing.

Yes, Lidstrom may be gone in a few years. However, why does anyone think other d-men won't be available then?

Kenny probably thought of that and looked to see what was coming up. He believed he needed to get someone now and he did just that.

[Guest Crymson]

NO, NO, NO. A finesse D-man not named Lidstrom (who struggles to handle big forwards in front of the net, along the boards or anywhere) would never get 7 million from any sane NHL GM.

Let me clue you in on something you don't seem to understand: Rafalski was offered 6 years at $6.67m per year by another team and turned it down.

[GiantRobot 0]

Don't like this move. The Wings need to get tougher along the boards, I think Smyth would have been a better signing.

Although Smyth doesnt fill the glaring hole on D left by Schneider...

Yes, Lidstrom may be gone in a few years. However, why does anyone think other d-men won't be available then?

Of course there will be, but there was one now, and he is top tier.

[FinRedWing 172]

My friend just texted me and asked why on earth we signed Rafalski,when we could've gotten Tarnstrom. He's a traditional Finn (anti-Swede) and thinks we only sign Swedes.

He's a bitter (overpaying) Flyers fan.

[GiantRobot 0]

My friend just texted me and asked why on earth we signed Rafalski,when we could've gotten Tarnstrom. He's a traditional Finn (anti-Swede) and thinks we only sign Swedes.

He's a bitter (overpaying) Flyers fan.

Poor guy..go easy on him, he's obviously delusional

[daniel1 32]

It still doesn't matter because the only thing that matters is the cap hit. Ilitch has a ton of cash to burn.

Oh but matter it does, padawan learner. Front loading a contract makes it easier to trade someone in the declining years of their contract. The other team is only responsible for the remainder of the contract, not the average. Look at the Briere deal Philly negotiated for a good example. If Philly wants to unload Briere in the last year or two of his deal it will be much easier for them to do so with him making only making a couple mil rather than 10 per season. Similarly if Briere demands a trade after a few seasons it will be easier to accommodate him. I think we will see this as a trend to get free agents as the lure of big money immediately will entice a player to take a chance on a poor team (Philly) while knowing the chance to move on after a couple years if things don't work out is increased by the lower back end of the contract. Trying to move an underachieving 7mil/yr player is much tougher than trading an underachieving 2-3mil/yr player.

The Briere Deal a la Yahoo Sports.

"The contract is heavily front-loaded, with Briere to make $10 million next season -- double what he made last year. He'll then make $8 million in the next two years and $7 million during the 2010-13 seasons. The contract then tapers off with Briere scheduled to make $3 million in 2013-14 and $2 million in the final year of the deal."

[HockeyCrazy3033 168]

My friend just texted me and asked why on earth we signed Rafalski,when we could've gotten Tarnstrom. He's a traditional Finn (anti-Swede) and thinks we only sign Swedes.

He's a bitter (overpaying) Flyers fan.

That is great stuff.

[norrisnick 1]

Oh but matter it does, padawan learner. Front loading a contract makes it easier to trade someone in the declining years of their contract. The other team is only responsible for the remainder of the contract, not the average. Look at the Briere deal Philly negotiated for a good example. If Philly wants to unload Briere in the last year or two of his deal it will be much easier for them to do so with him making only making a couple mil rather than 10 per season. Similarly if Briere demands a trade after a few seasons it will be easier to accommodate him. I think we will see this as a trend to get free agents as the lure of big money immediately will entice a player to take a chance on a poor team (Philly) while knowing the chance to move on after a couple years if things don't work out is increased by the lower back end of the contract. Trying to move an underachieving 7mil/yr player is much tougher than trading an underachieving 2-3mil/yr player.

The Briere Deal a la Yahoo Sports.

"The contract is heavily front-loaded, with Briere to make $10 million next season -- double what he made last year. He'll then make $8 million in the next two years and $7 million during the 2010-13 seasons. The contract then tapers off with Briere scheduled to make $3 million in 2013-14 and $2 million in the final year of the deal."

It still doesn't matter because any acquiring team will need to have that same $6M in cap space. Sure the new team won't have to actually pay as much money (a good thing) but that's not really an issue the Wings have to worry about. They've got cash to burn and it's not like Kenny is in the habit of trading away old players...

[akustyk 84]

smart move by Kenny. with the cap expecting to be rising even further we get a top 2 D-man for not even 1/8 and in following seasons probably even 1/9 of our cap space.

I like Rafalski. he doesn't have the experience and nastiness of Schneider but is young, playoff proven and reliable. we get him for fine bucks on a long term deal which will allow Holland to build the team further having two top-tier defensemen signed.

very good deal, IMHO. I wouldn't cheer a 12M$/2yr or even 18M$/3yr deal but those 5 years are a good basis to develop the team. around 2010 Wings will have a grown-together core of young players and will be basically poised to win the cup. and unlike many "developed" teams who were poised (like Preds, Sabres or Sharks) we actually are a winning team and can have a great run for the Cup.

kudos to Kenny. he once again proves he is a smart player under salary cap realms

[therock48880 14]

There's a big difference between a group of only forwards making big money and paying a group of forwards and defensemen big money.

That is Tampa's biggest problem. All their money is tied into offensive forwards whereas we'll have money tied up in a pair of very good two-way defensemen and a pair of very good two-way forwards.

Good Point. Still 25-30 million dollars in 4 players is scary. Even if the cap goes up to 60 million in 2 years that leaves 30-35 million for 16 more players. We're going to end up seeing 4 great players and a bunch of scrubs.

Don't get me wrong, I like Rafalski. He's a great addition. But in a couple years I think they will have their hands tied.

It still doesn't matter because any acquiring team will need to have that same $6M in cap space. Sure the new team won't have to actually pay as much money (a good thing) but that's not really an issue the Wings have to worry about. They've got cash to burn and it's not like Kenny is in the habit of trading away old players...

Right. All front-loading contracts does is give teams a one or two year way of going over the cap and enticing players with a big up-front salary. On the back end of it, though, you'll have a guy making 2 million but his cap hit will be 6 million. I'm personally not a big fan of the front loaded contract.

[sixer 37]

Great signing, welcome to Hockeytown!

[Hank 0]

I think this is a great deal. Not only is he an excellent offensive defenseman but I believe he's underated in his own zone as well.

Not only that, but he shoots right-handed; a rarity among good defensmen in the league. This should help our PP tremendously.

[DEVILSWATERBOY 10]

what an awful signing , awful ...........6 million a year for rafalski ????? give me a f'n break , hes not worth that money and the last thing we needed was another small defensemen , nice way to screw us up in a few years when zetterberg will get his raise ...........zetterberg lidstrom datsyuk rafalski = 27 million = bye bye redwings

Stop crying, this was a good signing after loosing Schnids he comes from one of the better defensive teams in the NHL he has more speed and onll 33, and has won 2 cups, money a little high maybe but lets think of the payback local kid from Dearborn Ralf damm glad you are a Wing welcome home

Edited July 2, 2007 by DEVILSWATERBOY

[Winged Scooter 0]

I think this is a great deal. Not only is he an excellent offensive defenseman but I believe he's underated in his own zone as well.

Not only that, but he shoots right-handed; a rarity among good defensmen in the league. This should help our PP tremendously.

That is a GREAT point I can't believe how many people are upset by this deal, look at it this way the money for Rafalski is almost identical to Schneider got from Anaheim BUT Schneider is Thirty-freakin'-eight years old, 6 mil is too much ( unless of course your name is Lidstrom ). They were talking about the deal on WDFN this morning, and a great point came up, Schneider is a LITTLE more gifted offensively, yes, but Rafalski is no slouch, and Rafalski is better defensively than Schneider, and better at one on one matchups. Someone else here also posted that he is very durbale, I see lots and LOTS of upside here!

[NeverForgetMac25 483]

I felt so out of the loop last night when I signed on. I was away all weekend, and didn't hear all the news until then. While I'm excited about Rafalski being a Wing, I'm not too crazy about his contract. IMO, its the term that scares, but a lot can change between now and the time Z's contract is up.

Obviously, he was offered more elsewhere but took a "hometown" discount, but I would have liked to see Rafalski ink for contracts such as 2 years/$6.25 million or 5 years/$5 million. While that could very well be just far-fetched, I just don't want anything getting in the way of Z's signing for the 09/10 season.

NFM's grade on the signing: B+

[eva unit zero 271]

Good Point. Still 25-30 million dollars in 4 players is scary. Even if the cap goes up to 60 million in 2 years that leaves 30-35 million for 16 more players. We're going to end up seeing 4 great players and a bunch of scrubs.

Don't get me wrong, I like Rafalski. He's a great addition. But in a couple years I think they will have their hands tied.

Right. All front-loading contracts does is give teams a one or two year way of going over the cap and enticing players with a big up-front salary. On the back end of it, though, you'll have a guy making 2 million but his cap hit will be 6 million. I'm personally not a big fan of the front loaded contract.

Going based on players currently signed, as well as numbers that seem likely for returning players (one year, 3m for Hasek and three years, 850k for Hudler), as well as an additional 3m/3 years for a scoring winger, we'll be looking at Draper, Cleary, Lidstrom, Chelios, Lilja, Hasek, and Osgood as UFA after this season, combining for just over 16m. If we assume the cap does not go up, and that Hasek retires, then we can look forward to something like this:

Draper 1.5m/2

Cleary 2m/3

Lidstrom 7.6m/2

Chelios 850k/1

Lilja 1.2m/2

Osgood 900k/2

Howard 900k/3

That totals up to 14.95m. This means that in the summer of 09, we would be looking at Zetterberg, Franzen, Samuelsson, Kopecky, and Chelios as free agents. Based on how the players are likely to perform, contract values should be in the neighborhood of:

Zetterberg 7m/5 years

Franzen 1.5m/3

Samuelsson 1.5m/2

Kopecky 600k/3

Chelios 850k/1

That totals up to just shy of 12m. The expiring contracts would have a value of around 6m, plus an additional 1m in space left from the previous year. Meaning a gap of around 5m.

So yes, the Wings could be in trouble in a couple of years if the cap does not go up. But the cap has increased around 3m per season. If the rate is halved, that will still be a 3m increase by the end of Zetterberg's contract. Given that I have been including a cushion of about 3m in all of these calculations (2m wiggle room and 1.2 of bonus carryover this year) the Wings should be just fine. Likely guys like Lidstrom and Zetterberg will take lesser deals if the Wings need them to.

Edited July 2, 2007 by eva unit zero

[poolerman 0]

I 'm seeing this as Lidstrom has already made his retirement plans, otherwise the talent is there

but where's the toughness...??? Maybe we shoulf get fedorov back after a buyout should be

cheap..if you hadn't noticed...we haven't won a cup since he left!!

[KrazyGangsta 79]

The year zetterbers contract finishes ... lidstrom will retire ... after next season he will re-sign for 1 year 7 million ...

[NeverForgetMac25 483]

The year zetterbers contract finishes ... lidstrom will retire ... after next season he will re-sign for 1 year 7 million ...

That could all happen, but it hasn't yet. The Rafalski signing brings stability to the Wings D especially after Lids retires, but there is no guarantee that Lids will be done after the 08/09 season. As many of you know, if there's two guys on the Wings that I want more than anyone, its Z and Lids. I don't want anything to compromise that.

Edited July 2, 2007 by Never Forget Mac #25

[StevieY9802 6]

Right. All front-loading contracts does is give teams a one or two year way of going over the cap and enticing players with a big up-front salary. On the back end of it, though, you'll have a guy making 2 million but his cap hit will be 6 million. I'm personally not a big fan of the front loaded contract.

The only reason they do it is so if they have to buy them out its much easier on them. It doesn't really hurt that much in the end. It all evens out. When Briere is only getting paid 2mil in the last year of his deal the Flyers won't sit there and think well we could have that 4.5 to spend because they'll know that this year theres 3.5mil that they are ok on. Its for buying out purposes only. It doesn't bother me one way or another.

Once again I like this signing. I'm sure they are taking into account Zetterberg's contract in 2 years. Its not like people in here are the only ones who have thought about it. I'm sure the Wings have a plan. I like the signing cause it helps now and over the course of the contract. Lidstrom and Chelios aren't gonna be here by the end of that contract so having a veteran like him there will be helpful imo.

[wingsfan979802 0]

http://blog.mlive.com/snapshots/2007/07/ex...d_thumbsup.html

[Chase 0]

Hey all, Im back after a short break. Been busy and what not.

But I think this is a great signing. 5 years may be a little risky, but Rafalski>Schnieder IMO.