Active player comparable to Rafalski

[Vasilevskiy]

Andy Greene?
Worse than Rafalski of course but kinda...

 

[darkbrew*]

Paul martin

 

[Mickey Marner]

Reminds me of Krug minus the passing and defensive accumine.

 

[Malkin112*]

Scuderi and Hall Gill

 

[Analyzer*]

Tobias Enstrom as well.

This.

For a small guy, he always impressed me more in his own end than offensively. He's good offensively, too.

 

[End of Line]

I'm thinking Shattenkirk on this one.

 

[dkhockey]

Vyacheslav Leonidovich Voynov

both great offensive defensemen

 

[AHB*]

My team's player.

Actually, I don't think anyone on the Rangers is like him.

 

[OzzyFan]

Impact Wise? Suter, Rafalski was that damn good overall. Obviously, Suter was better in his own end, while Rafalski was a better skater and much better on the PP/overall-offensively.

Similar playing style wise? Better defensive Shattenkirk/younger Visnovsky-Markov.

Rafalski was damn good, often underrated because he played with the Devils/Wings and with great partners, but he more then held his own with them.

 

[BlueDream]

Gio's too big.

Not really.

 

[jpw1910]

Shatty

 

[BudMovin*]

Dan Boyle.

 

[ScubaSteve*]

Mark Fistric

 

[HanSolo]

Mark Fistric

What? No

 

[SenatorArmy*]

Sergei Zubov

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Alex Goligoski.

 

[Raspewtin]

Vatanen immediately came to mind.

 

[Gurglesons]

Still think this retirement effected Detroit way more than Lidstrom.

 

[SenatorArmy*]

I was surprised at how early Rafalski retired. I mean he put up 48 points in 63 games in his last season. Could have easily gone another couple seasons at least.

 

[BudMovin*]

I was surprised at how early Rafalski retired. I mean he put up 48 points in 63 games in his last season. Could have easily gone another couple seasons at least.

Probably wanted to spend more time with his family.

 

[Big Ed]

Still think this retirement effected Detroit way more than Lidstrom.

He was playing on the bottom pairing his final year.

 

[Gurglesons]

He was playing on the bottom pairing his final year.

Eh. I still think the unexpected nature of his retirement really messed with what Detroit was planning on doing for at least two years. Lidstrom was just bonus fries every year he resigned.

 

[icKx]

Still think this retirement effected Detroit way more than Lidstrom.

No, not even the PP. Lids wasn't perfect right up to the end but still insanely good. Rafalski was a shell from injuries.

As for OP I'm gonna say Shattenkirk or Green.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

As an Avs fan the first person to pop into mind for me was Tyson Barrie.


Similarly sized, and play the game a lot alike. Barrie has a long way to go before he reaches Rafalski's level Defensively. But he plays a lot like him in all 3 zones.



From around the league, Kevin Shattenkirk is a very good comparison. Shatty is already on Rafalski's level Offensively, and he's slowly getting there Defensively too.


Vatanen is another good example.

 

[MovesLikeJagr68]

When GoGo was on the Pens I always saw him as someone who could end up as a Rafalski clone.

- Both from northern US states.
- Both about same height and weight.
- Both started balding at younger ages.
- Both great skaters.
- Both their names end in 'ski

Haven't followed his progression in Dallas much, but I'm gonna go ahead and assume he's not quite at that same level