Brian Rafalski announces retirement after 11 NHL seasons

[sandyeggo wingnut 19]

Not to mention that Detroit is a destination that prominent free agents have been known to favor in the past.

Hossa

[10 Minute Misconduct 104]

FORWARDS

Tomas Holmstrom ($1.875m) / Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Johan Franzen ($3.954m)

Todd Bertuzzi ($1.937m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Daniel Cleary ($2.800m)

Scottie Upshall ($3.000m) / Valtteri Filppula ($3.000m) / Justin Abdelkader ($0.787m)

Patrick Eaves ($1.000m) / Darren Helm ($0.912m) / Drew Miller($0.750m)

Jan Mursak ($0.550m)

DEFENSEMEN

Niklas Kronwall ($3.000m) / Brad Stuart ($3.750m)

Jonathan Ericsson ($2.25m) / Nicklas Lidstrom ($6.20m)

Christian Ehroff ($5.00m) / James Wisniewski ($4.25m)

Jakub Kindl ($0.883m)

GOALTENDERS

Jimmy Howard ($2.250m) / ($0.800m)

CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)

(these totals are compiled without the bonus cushion)

SALARY CAP: $62,000,000; CAP PAYROLL: $40,808,711; BONUSES: $0

CAP SPACE (14-man roster): $816,289,000

OR

FORWARDS

Tomas Holmstrom ($1.875m) / Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Johan Franzen ($3.954m)

Todd Bertuzzi ($1.937m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Daniel Cleary ($2.800m)

Valtteri Filppula ($3.000m) / Brad Richards ($6.700m) / Justin Abdelkader ($0.787m)

Patrick Eaves ($1.000m) / Darren Helm ($0.912m) / Drew Miller($0.750m)

Jan Mursak ($0.550m)

DEFENSEMEN

Niklas Kronwall ($3.000m) / Brad Stuart ($3.750m)

Jonathan Ericsson ($2.25m) / Nicklas Lidstrom ($6.20m)

Christian Ehroff ($5.00m) / Ruslan Salei ($0.750m) (Or equivalent right handed shot)..

Jakub Kindl ($0.883m)

GOALTENDERS

Jimmy Howard ($2.250m) / ($0.800m)

CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)

(these totals are compiled without the bonus cushion)

SALARY CAP: $62,000,000; CAP PAYROLL: $40,808,711; BONUSES: $0

CAP SPACE (14-man roster): $616,289,000

Hope I got the math right...

Edited May 24, 2011 by 10 Minute Misconduct

[Majsheppard 203]

According to recent interviews that's true. He's never expressed a desire to leave and from what I've read he was confident a deal could be worked out to keep him in Nashville.

But that doesn't mean he's closed every other door.

No one ever says I don't want to stay at a place, it ruins your ability to negotiate.

I bet he is a Predator next year, but I do not thing it is a given that he will always be one.

[Hockeytown0001 7,652]

Hossa

Tried and failed, unfortunately.

[Majsheppard 203]

This is the first of many moves that will happen over the next 15 months or so as the Wings try and shed the "old, slow, and soft" label and adjust to the ever changing post-lockout NHL. Depending on what happens this summer will obviously affect what the 2012 off-season which will be, IMO, the most important off-season for the wings since the lockout. Current players that have contracts for the 2012-13 season are:

Datsyuk $6.7(ends 2014)

Zetterberg $6,083,333

Franzen $3,954,545

Filppula $3.0(final year on contract)

Cleary $2.8(final year on contract)

*Helm RFA

*Abdelkader RFA

Kindl $883,333(final year on contract, will be RFA)

Howard $2,250,000

Prospects who have a chance to make 2012-13 roster(in no particular order)

Forwards

Andersson $875,000(final year of contract, will be RFA)

Tatar $840,000(ends 2014 will be RFA)

Emmerton $533,333(ends 2014 will be RFA)

Nyquist $762,500(final year on contract, will be RFA)

Ferraro $715,000(final year on contract, will be RFA)

Mursak $550,000(final year on contract, will be RFA)

Aubry $615,000(final year on contract, will be RFA)

Callahan $558,333(final year on contract, will be RFA)

Jarnkrok Unsigned

Pulkkinen Unsigned

Defense

Smith $875,000(final year of contract, will be RFA)

Pyett Current RFA

Fournier $606,666(final year of contract, will be RFA)

Lashoff $523,888(final year of contract, will be RFA)

Almqvist Unsigned

Goalies

McCollum $816,666(final year of contract, will be RFA)

Pearce Current RFA

Mrazek Unsigned

The bottom line is that the wings have plenty of forwards and "should" be set up front for the next decade with big skilled guys and a dusting of grit along with a few free agents.

On the back end something needs to change. Brendan Smith is the only D prospect currently ranked in the top 12 on RedWingsCentral.

In net the Wings look as thought they have a top 10 goalie in Howard. If McCollum can reach his potential the wings will be set in goal for the next 10-15 years.

This is why I feel we need to get aggressive on d. Four picks for Weber sounds like a deal when you figure that is what we will need more than anything.

RFA is a legitimate fix four us. I suggest we step up and make the team better now so Lids can win again, and get someone so solid we can stay together for longer.

[sandyeggo wingnut 19]

Tried and failed, unfortunately.

Not the point.

[Buppy 1,720]

...CAP SPACE (14-man roster): $816,289,000

...

Hope I got the math right...

Pretty sure if we end up with $816 million in free cap space, someone's math is wrong.

[Bring Back The Bruise Bros 1,029]

Wow. Nobody saw that one coming. Finally, an interesting summer coming up.

Edit: Doug Weight set to announce his future this week, as well. Looks like he may be done, as well.

Edited May 24, 2011 by Bring Back The Bruise Bros

[13dangledangle 957]

Probably. But I'm betting there are 30 teams with fans who'd love to find a way to fit Weber onto their team.

That is why it's time for "the greatest GM in sports" to step up and get #6 to the sewing machine.

[Trapt1307 81]

Sad to see Raffi go, but this offseason definitely just got exciting.

[P. Marlowe 748]

*snif*

[Cali-Wing-Nut 102]

Who cares how much skill Torres has if he doesn't use it? He doesn't even care about the puck. Torres will skate right by a puck if he can get a charge in on a vulnerable opponent.

^^THIS

[RockyMountainWingGal 108]

Keep in mind that Rafalski was 12th in the league in scoring and played only 63 games. Look at his place at the end of the season in total points over the last 5 seasons.

10-11 - 12th

09-10 - 21st

08-09 - 5th

07-08 - 7th

06-07 - 12th

People can knock is defensive game, but he is a point producing machine. I see the same upswing from Brendan Smith as he has the same skillset just in a bigger body.

On a sidenote, I am pretty disgusted with some of the comments here. The "Don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out" comments in specific. He helped bring a Stanley Cup to Detroit. He took a hometown discount to come play here. A little respect would be in order.

I'm with ya. Not as much appreciation for Raffy as you would think. He was a great replacement for Schneider - an upgrade. Nick and Raffy rocked together in 2008 and brought home the Cup. He may be on his last leg(s) as an elite player - yet still elite. There isn't a comparable replacement - ESP not one that can come in and be Cup-competent immediately. The 6 mill now is part of the price the Wings paid to go on the 2 long Cup runs. If he really does retire, shows you what kind of class the guy has - he could eek it out and just spend alot time on IR collecting $, but he'd rather not saddle the team - wish all players were like that. Thanks Raffy, you were fun to watch and we were glad to have you as a Red Wing for a few years at least.

Edited May 24, 2011 by RockyMountainWingGal

[Nyquistfan14 489]

*snif*

Too sad Raffi you will be missed. This may really hurt our pp

Edited May 24, 2011 by Flipper51

[stuck in socal 56]

Just goes to show how all the good things come to an end eventually. Rafalski was a great player for both our Red Wings and the New Jersey Devils. He played the game and his position with a lot of skill, and he was a great ambassador for the NHL and American hockey. Thank you for servicing the Wings Mr. Rafalski, you will be missed out there. <3.

[Nyquistfan14 489]

Raffi was and still is a world class d-man. I find it absolutely discusting to see people talk the way they do about him. Yes he went downhill a little defensively, but my god he was a top 5 pp quarterback in the league. Show some respect for a classy hometown player that gave everything he had to this organization and helped bring tremendous success since 2008

[ben_usmc 253]

Neither Hossa nor Hasek were RFAs. If by some unbelievable miracle L.A. or Nashville don't match a Detroit offer, they'll still be chowing down on our draft picks for the next four years.

Very good point, but it's not like we would see those late 1st rounders in our line up for another decade anyway. Not while we can still potentially sign a player like Draper to stay until he's a corpse

edit: Also where did all these Weber rumors start anyway? I feel like they have gone on with potentially trying to steal him it seems for the last 2 years. Preds may not spend to the cap, but I bet they will be a lot more willing after that playoff run this year, Come on now you really think they are going to let Weber go?

Edited May 24, 2011 by ben_usmc

[jollymania 162]

Who cares how much skill Torres has if he doesn't use it? He doesn't even care about the puck. Torres will skate right by a puck if he can get a charge in on a vulnerable opponent.

Sometimes the puck should be secondary, i don't know why this "you have to get the puck yourself" thing is starting to infest itself, stevens never went for the puck many times, he always had rafalski coming right behind the guy to ****** it up.

[ben_usmc 253]

I'm with ya. Not as much appreciation for Raffy as you would think. He was a great replacement for Schneider - an upgrade. Nick and Raffy rocked together in 2008 and brought home the Cup. He may be on his last leg(s) as an elite player - yet still elite. There isn't a comparable replacement - ESP not one that can come in and be Cup-competent immediately. The 6 mill now is part of the price the Wings paid to go on the 2 long Cup runs. If he really does retire, shows you what kind of class the guy has - he could eek it out and just spend alot time on IR collecting $, but he'd rather not saddle the team - wish all players were like that. Thanks Raffy, you were fun to watch and we were glad to have you as a Red Wing for a few years at least.

For sure, I bashed on him through out the last 2 seasons about his defensive play, but at the end of the day his contract was worth it, and he did alot for Detroit (including destroy his body)

[Doc Holliday 1,888]

Sometimes the puck should be secondary, i don't know why this "you have to get the puck yourself" thing is starting to infest itself, stevens never went for the puck many times, he always had rafalski coming right behind the guy to ****** it up.

It helps that:

1. Stevens is the best open ice hitter of the past couple decades

2. The team fed off his playing style to improve the team. The trap plays him and his defensive partner set up were unlike anything I've ever seen

3. Stevens didn't have to put himself out of position to make a lot of his hits. They came to him.

4. Stevens had more to bring to the table than crushing people. That was simply what he was feared for.

[king_malice 17]

FORWARDS

Daniel Cleary ($2.800m) / Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Johan Franzen ($3.954m)

Todd Bertuzzi ($1.937m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Jiri Hudler ($2.875m)

Tomas Holmstrom ($1.875m) / Valtteri Filppula ($3.000m) / Tomas Fleischmann ($2.900m)

Justin Abdelkader ($0.787m) / Darren Helm ($0.912m) / Jan Mursak ($0.550m)

Cory Emmerton ($0.533m)

DEFENSEMEN

Nick Lidstrom ($5.900m) / Niklas Kronwall ($3.000m)

Brad Stuart ($3.750m) / Christian Ehrhoff ($4.355m) Jakub Kindl ($0.883m) / Anton Babchuk ($1.850m) Brendan Smith ($0.875m)

GOALTENDERS

Jimmy Howard ($2.250m) / Ty Conklin ($1.475m)

CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)

(these totals are compiled without the bonus cushion)

SALARY CAP: $59,400,000; CAP PAYROLL: $59,247,044; BONUSES: $0

CAP SPACE (22-man roster): $152,956

to me i think Lids only comes back now after Raffy retiring if 1) he thinks the Wings have a VERY REAL chance at winning another Cup or 2) he takes a bigger pay cut to bring in top end players which he may have to do in order to do the first one.

Edited May 24, 2011 by king_malice

[haroldsnepsts 4,826]

If Lidstrom comes back the RFA we should go after as much as i like Weber , is Doughty much better skater then Weber and better offensivly

(6'4 234 LBS)

Weber 16G 32A +7

( 6'1 219LBS)

Doughty 11G 29A +13

Both would be AMAZING but to me i like Doughty just a little more only because i think Doughty has better offensive vision, which with Raffy and possibly Lids retiring we will need

The Kings locked up Jack Johnson until 2018. I can't imagine they plan on letting Doughty go anywhere.

A team would have to make an absurdly high offer for LA not to match.

[Bring Back The Bruise Bros 1,029]

The Kings locked up Jack Johnson until 2018. I can't imagine they plan on letting Doughty go anywhere.

A team would have to make an absurdly high offer for LA not to match.

Same goes with Nashville and Shea Weber. No way he's coming here.

[haroldsnepsts 4,826]

Same goes with Nashville and Shea Weber. No way he's coming here.

Agreed.

It's one thing to pick up star players later in their careers when they're UFA's and may be willing to change teams for a shot at the Cup, but we're talking about two young defenseman who are RFA's and the cornerstones of their respective franchises.

[Bring Back The Bruise Bros 1,029]

Agreed.

It's one thing to pick up star players later in their careers when they're UFA's and may be willing to change teams for a shot at the Cup, but we're talking about two young defenseman who are RFA's and the cornerstones of their respective franchises.

Exactly. Ryan Suter is a more realistic possibility, but even then, he's been Weber's pairing for years now, I can't really imagine Nashville just letting him walk. They're gonna do all they can to get Suter back. Whether he stays or not remains to be seen. People bring up Erhoff, but that doesn't seem likely either, especially with Vancouver's run right now. They're gonna want him around for a while too.