Prospect Info: Colton White -D- (97th Overall 2015)

[Kurt Cobain]

Rafalski started his career with Stevens, then played with Niedermayer, and then went on to play with Lidstrom the rest of his career.

He gets a lot of flack from being lucky with who he played with because he also played alongside Hall of Fame defenders.

The two years after the lockout where he was easily our number 1 defensman and he didn't have the luxury of Stevens of Lidstrom being his partner. He did great those years. Didn't miss a game and had seasons of 49 and 55 points. Those two playoff years he even had 17 points in 20 games! Brian Rafalski was a a damn good hockey player and it wasn't his fault we didn't get better defensman on the team 2 thru 6 those years. He was also much better defensively than he gets credit for. He played his position well and didn't get beat 1 on 1 or chase guys and get out of position.

There has been a small but very very vocal minority on this site who have tried to make Rafalski out to be some leach who was never a good defensman whatsoever. It also seems that younger people or people who weren't fans during Rafalski's years here have started to believe this revision of history. It's total crap. Don't believe it. If Damon Severson can become Rafalski 2.0 with size then we should all be more than happy.