Brian Rafalski - What is his legacy?

[Asheville]

One of the more unique journeys to the NHL despite being a very good college player. Successful everywhere. Paired with HHOFers. Put up sizeable point totals. All despite being a little guy. Cerebral player. Great play at the Olympics.

Seems to never get spoken of.

And, mods, please remove political/religious remarks. Thanks.

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[brachyrynchos]

I give the guy credit, went undrafted despite good college numbers, didn't give up. Goes to Sweden for a year, then Finland for another 3, where he is named best defenseman twice, and best player once. Probably thought he wouldn't play in NHL, his size was seen as a detriment around that time. Great signing by the Devils, immediately adjusted and played well, becoming part of NJ's great defensive core that included Niedermayer, Daneyko, and Stevens, whom he was paired with- a great duo.
Signs as free agent with Detroit and becomes part of another great pairing, playing with Lidstrom.
Played in 5 finals, wins Cup 3 times, plays 11 seasons never missing playoffs.
Inducted into US Hockey Hall of Fame and won some bronze and silver medals at Olympics
Glad he made it and succeeded despite his size, and like I said, he just kept playing and trying.
Not sure where I would rank him in for defenseman, alot of guys I'd take over him, not a knock against Rafalski, more a compliment to who I consider better.
Teams started paying more attention to undrafted North Americans playing in Europe, trying to find the next Rafalski. Cory Murphy being an example.

 

[One Blurred Eye]

I remember him being Team USA's best player in the 2010 Olympics, but his legs/knees didn't hold out much after that and it was hard watching him give up breakaway after breakaway in his last year in Detroit. He was an ideal partner for Lidstrom though, a major component of Detroit's monstrous possession game and powerplay during his tenure there. I doubt anyone would call him elite in an absolute sense, but relative to other complementary/sidekick defensemen, he was probably among the best, considering the accolades and respect his partners received with him riding shotgun. It does seem teams are more willing to take flyers on skilled but undersized defensemen these days in the draft, which I'm sure could be traced at least in part to his success, even if few still crack into the NHL for more than a few games.

 

[Big Phil]

I still don't think the guy was 5'10" on the ice. He didn't look it. Look, the guy arrived in the 1999-'00 season at a time when you were treated like an orphaned stray cat if you were a defenseman and not 6'0" tall. I never thought that was fair, but that was what GMs were going for. However, Rafalski definitely fit in. I thought, wow, he's pretty good, maybe he can crack Canada's 2002 Olym..............oh, never mind, he's American!

I don't know who to compare him to, but maybe today's version of Ryan Ellis perhaps? Maybe even a little more reliable. He was quite reliable, even in his own end. And someone who had great offensive instincts. When you think of the Devils on those teams in 2000, 2001 and 2003 you think of their defensive core. Stevens, Niedermayer, Rafalski and Daneyko.

Put me in the category (maybe rare category) that thought he was a better Devil in those years than Niedermayer. I liked him, and he could play on my team anyday of the week. Oh yeah, and those Olympics he played in. His goal tied it at 2-2 in 2002 in the gold medal game. A shot that deflected off of Pronger's stick. He was just dangerous out there, never a guy to take lightly.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

i think the rafalski narrative is usually that he was one of those hidden US college guys that lou lamoriello found (madden, andy greene), and to a degree that's true. he also drafted rolston, pandolfo, and parise high, as well as gionta, and found scott pellerin and david emma before they won the hobey baker.

but i always thought of rafalski in line with jaro spacek and kimmo timonen, two guys who weren't really on any radar and came to north america late, after turning heads in the '98 olympics. obviously, rafalski didn't play in the '98 olympics, but i think with spacek and timonen entering the league the year before and holding their own playing top four minutes (albeit on poor expansion teams), you can see lou saying to himself, well maybe this small guy with excellent puck moving instincts can translate his defensive ability in the euro leagues and survive in the stone age of the NHL.

 

[JackSlater]

Very smart player and a strong #2. Always seemed like his head (or at least his eyes) was moving looking for a passing option.

 

[c9777666]

Don’t underestimate his impact on the Red Wings.

They swapped out the highly capable Mathieu Schneider for Rafalski (whom you can’t say DET won in spite of) and they still went to another level in 2008.

Plus, when he left NJD, there was a bit of a Blueline gap- he helped stabilize things after Stevens retirement and Niedermayer left for Anaheim. It wasn’t quite the same after he left.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

He was too physically weak to be a good one-on-one defender, but he was really smart and a great defensive system player. That's why I think he was so good next to 1st ballot HHOFers Scott Stevens and Nicklas Lidstrom, but not so good when he was tried out as the #1 defenseman of the Devils.

 

[Sentinel]

I think he is being slightly overrated for nostalgic reasons and because he was a part of some really good teams. The guy was a turnover machine. He required partnering with elite shutdown defensemen. He was kinda Zubov-lite.