Player Discussion: The Great Rhett Rakhshani

[blinkman360]

No idea why this dude's name popped in my head today, but I decided to look up his stats and see where he ended up after we let him go. For the life of me I had no idea he was as productive as he was with Bridgeport. 62 points in 66 games his first full season. 49 points in 49 games the following season. Yet even with those numbers he only appeared in 7 games with the Isles before moving on to play in Europe.

Kind of weird to me that a guy that young who had that much success in the AHL wouldn't have at least gotten bounced around the league a bit. Teams taking a chance, while he pushes forward in an attempt to stick at the NHL level. Looks like his last year here was at 24 years of age.

Anybody know what exactly the deal was with this guy? I'm sure at the end of the day he was one of those "doesn't provide value in a bottom-six role, but not good enough to score at the NHL level so can't play in a top-six role either" types. Just kind of weird how quickly he disappeared considering his AHL success. Did he just prefer going to Europe instead of carry on with the life of a minor leaguer? I have a hard time believing there were NO teams looking to sign a 24 year old PPG AHLer.

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[danteipp]

No idea why this dude's name popped in my head today, but I decided to look up his stats and see where he ended up after we let him go. For the life of me I had no idea he was as productive as he was with Bridgeport. 62 points in 66 games his first full season. 49 points in 49 games the following season. Yet even with those numbers he only appeared in 7 games with the Isles before moving on to play in Europe.

Kind of weird to me that a guy that young who had that much success in the AHL wouldn't have at least gotten bounced around the league a bit. Teams taking a chance, while he pushes forward in an attempt to stick at the NHL level. Looks like his last year here was at 24 years of age.

Anybody know what exactly the deal was with this guy? I'm sure at the end of the day he was one of those "doesn't provide value in a bottom-six role, but not good enough to score at the NHL level so can't play in a top-six role either" types. Just kind of weird how quickly he disappeared considering his AHL success. Did he just prefer going to Europe instead of carry on with the life of a minor leaguer? I have a hard time believing there were NO teams looking to sign a 24 year old PPG AHLer.

Good callback! RR kind of struck me as a player who would have been better served entering the league now, as opposed to 10+ years ago. Maybe he could have carved out a role, of course it would have helped if he could have improved his skating back then too. I wonder if he improved in that area in the SHL?

 

[Chardo]

Sounds like Astro Jetson.

 

[leeroggy]

No idea why this dude's name popped in my head today, but I decided to look up his stats and see where he ended up after we let him go. For the life of me I had no idea he was as productive as he was with Bridgeport. 62 points in 66 games his first full season. 49 points in 49 games the following season. Yet even with those numbers he only appeared in 7 games with the Isles before moving on to play in Europe.

Kind of weird to me that a guy that young who had that much success in the AHL wouldn't have at least gotten bounced around the league a bit. Teams taking a chance, while he pushes forward in an attempt to stick at the NHL level. Looks like his last year here was at 24 years of age.

Anybody know what exactly the deal was with this guy? I'm sure at the end of the day he was one of those "doesn't provide value in a bottom-six role, but not good enough to score at the NHL level so can't play in a top-six role either" types. Just kind of weird how quickly he disappeared considering his AHL success. Did he just prefer going to Europe instead of carry on with the life of a minor leaguer? I have a hard time believing there were NO teams looking to sign a 24 year old PPG AHLer.

Still playing in Germany after many years in Sweden, but not really a big point producer there. If my memory serves, didn't he have some back problems that led us to not extend him?

 

[seafoam]

Rhett was just never NHL player material, but for every undersized point producer that makes it, 50 of them don’t.

It was a good gamble, it’s just hard to predict how undersized scorers are going to adjust to professional hockey in North America.

I’m glad to see he’s carved out a career in Europe. He’s a good dude.

 

[The Real JT]

Any truth to the rumor that Rhett had a one night stand 23 years ago in Russia with Svetlana Ishakov?

 

[bigtim1988]

I'll take your Rhett Rakshani and raise you a David Ulstrom!

I always wondered why RR never stuck/never given a shot, considering his numbers in AHL, but theres more to it than we know....always is.

 

[blinkman360]

I'll take your Rhett Rakshani and raise you a David Ulstrom!

I always wondered why RR never stuck/never given a shot, considering his numbers in AHL, but theres more to it than we know....always is.

That’s another good one. I’ll always remember the hype around guys like Colliton and Comeau, although Comeau managed to have a nice NHL career.

There was a guy back when I first started following the team in like ‘01/02. I think outside of Raffi Torres he was like our only quality prospect from what I remember, and he was hyped beyond belief. I can’t remember his name but pretty sure he was a Russian defenseman. Anyone remember who this guy was or was this all a dream I had?

 

[bigtim1988]

That’s another good one. I’ll always remember the hype around guys like Colliton and Comeau, although Comeau managed to have a nice NHL career.

There was a guy back when I first started following the team in like ‘01/02. I think outside of Raffi Torres he was like our only quality prospect from what I remember, and he was hyped beyond belief. I can’t remember his name but pretty sure he was a Russian defenseman. Anyone remember who this guy was or was this all a dream I had?

prob like Bratislav Mezei or some shit. lots of weird prospects back then, and the sound tigers almost wining the AHL championship really made it seem the isles future was real bright back then--despite trading all the blue chip prospects

 

[Throttle]

Never got a chance…

 

[NC 1972]

Good callback! RR kind of struck me as a player who would have been better served entering the league now, as opposed to 10+ years ago. Maybe he could have carved out a role, of course it would have helped if he could have improved his skating back then too. I wonder if he improved in that area in the SHL?

If my memory is correct aside from possibly being the first player of Indo- American decent drafted into an NHL organization, I believe he was a Roller Hockey player out of California .

 

[NC 1972]

Rhett was just never NHL player material, but for every undersized point producer that makes it, 50 of them don’t.

It was a good gamble, it’s just hard to predict how undersized scorers are going to adjust to professional hockey in North America.

I’m glad to see he’s carved out a career in Europe. He’s a good dude.

Long Island native , Richie Hansen or Hanson was a very prolific goal scorer for the Islanders AHL affiliate that they shared with the Blackhawks in Fort Worth Texas the team may have been called the Blackhawks not sure . But I'd follow him in the AHL couldn't wait for the Hockey News to arrive, He only got a few games in the Big's might have been a courtesy and a little exposure for the home town fans.

 

[crashthenet]

I'll take your Rhett Rakshani and raise you a David Ulstrom!

I always wondered why RR never stuck/never given a shot, considering his numbers in AHL, but theres more to it than we know....always is.

Ullstrom was a slightly more intriguing prospect in my mind. Big centerman with a nice scoring touch. To put it bluntly, we couldn't develop players period. Zero resources committed to doing so. I am not necessarily a Charles Wang hater but the imbecile he left in place as GM and then president couldn't ever figure this out. Or much else for that matter. Bridgeport was an absolute goat rope until Lou got here. We'll never know what could've been. I get it these guys are mid around picks but still.

 

[seafoam]

Jesse Joensuu, Johan Sundstrom.

 

[saintunspecified]

There was a guy back when I first started following the team in like ‘01/02. I think outside of Raffi Torres he was like our only quality prospect from what I remember, and he was hyped beyond belief. I can’t remember his name but pretty sure he was a Russian defenseman. Anyone remember who this guy was or was this all a dream I had?

I assume you're not talking about Korolev, who NYI drafted twice.

There was a bunch of hype for a 3 week period (it felt like that anyway) about Alexei Stonkus. But then he sustained a serious neck or back injury that ended his career.

NYI have had a bunch of players like Rakhshani over the years. Jeff Hamilton & Juraj Kolnik come to mind. Weinhandl was the most talented, but I think his eye injury was a bigger obstacle on the small ice. Players with skill, but just not big enough ando/or quick enough.

 

[blinkman360]

I assume you're not talking about Korolev, who NYI drafted twice.

There was a bunch of hype for a 3 week period (it felt like that anyway) about Alexei Stonkus. But then he sustained a serious neck or back injury that ended his career.

NYI have had a bunch of players like Rakhshani over the years. Jeff Hamilton & Juraj Kolnik come to mind. Weinhandl was the most talented, but I think his eye injury was a bigger obstacle on the small ice. Players with skill, but just not big enough ando/or quick enough.

Holy crap I think that actually might be him. Stonkus. I was thinking in my head something that sounded like Cherapanov, obviously not that exactly but something similar, but now that I read his name and looked up his card, I think that may be him. It's a little later than I thought though if he was drafted in '02, because by then we would have at least had Bergenheim. In my mind we had absolutely nothing at the time but maybe I'm just misremembering.

As far as the other guys you mentioned, that's kind of my point though. The guys you mentioned at least bounced around the league a bit before being phased out. Just weird to me how quickly Rakhshani was gone from North America.

 

[saintunspecified]

As far as the other guys you mentioned, that's kind of my point though. The guys you mentioned at least bounced around the league a bit before being phased out. Just weird to me how quickly Rakhshani was gone from North America.

Could be a simple matter of trying European hockey, and deciding it's a good life.

 

[steveat]

He was given a 3 game stint. He didn't look bad...but we were a BAD team, so that's saying he might have been average bad. He had good hands and good speed, but I remember him skating up the ice and being stopped on the spot...he wasn't even hit by the other player..he just ran into the guy and his entire momentum just stopped dead. If it was Pageau for example, doing the same thing, JPG would have just bounced off the guy and kept on going or pushed the other player out of the way. ..His [Rhett's] strength was his downfall.

 

[Richie Daggers Crime]

There was a guy back when I first started following the team in like ‘01/02. I think outside of Raffi Torres he was like our only quality prospect from what I remember, and he was hyped beyond belief. I can’t remember his name but pretty sure he was a Russian defenseman. Anyone remember who this guy was or was this all a dream I had?

Chebaturkin?

 

[Sparksrus3]

No idea why this dude's name popped in my head today, but I decided to look up his stats and see where he ended up after we let him go. For the life of me I had no idea he was as productive as he was with Bridgeport. 62 points in 66 games his first full season. 49 points in 49 games the following season. Yet even with those numbers he only appeared in 7 games with the Isles before moving on to play in Europe.

Kind of weird to me that a guy that young who had that much success in the AHL wouldn't have at least gotten bounced around the league a bit. Teams taking a chance, while he pushes forward in an attempt to stick at the NHL level. Looks like his last year here was at 24 years of age.

Anybody know what exactly the deal was with this guy? I'm sure at the end of the day he was one of those "doesn't provide value in a bottom-six role, but not good enough to score at the NHL level so can't play in a top-six role either" types. Just kind of weird how quickly he disappeared considering his AHL success. Did he just prefer going to Europe instead of carry on with the life of a minor leaguer? I have a hard time believing there were NO teams looking to sign a 24 year old PPG AHLer.

Rhett Rakhshani sounds like the next Ben and Jerry’s flavor

 

[MattMartin]

Justin Mapletoft is reading this thread.

�

Season	Team	Lge	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	+/-	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
	Regular Season	Playoffs
1996-97	Red Deer Rebels	WHL	2	0	0	0	0		--	--	--	--	--
1997-98	Red Deer Rebels	WHL	65	9	4	13	41		5	1	0	1	0
1998-99	Red Deer Rebels	WHL	72	24	22	46	81	9	9	2	3	5	12
1999-00	Red Deer Rebels	WHL	72	39	57	96	135	26	4	2	1	3	28
2000-01	Red Deer Rebels	WHL	70	43	77	120	111	45	22	13	21	34	59
2001-02	Bridgeport Sound Tigers	AHL	80	13	20	33	60	11	20	7	10	17	23
2002-03	Bridgeport Sound Tigers	AHL	63	13	26	39	47	9	7	1	2	3	6
2002-03	New York Islanders	NHL	11	2	2	4	2	-1	2	0	0	0	0
2003-04	Bridgeport Sound Tigers	AHL	36	10	13	23	59	0	--	--	--	--	--
2003-04	New York Islanders	NHL	27	1	4	5	6	-1	--	--	--	--	--
2004-05	Bridgeport Sound Tigers	AHL	61	11	24	35	51	-9	--	--	--	--	--
2005-06	Jokerit Helsinki	SM-liiga	18	1	3	4	8	-2	--	--	--	--	--
2005-06	Sodertalje SK	SEL	31	14	7	21	34	-9	--	--	--	--	--
2006-07	Nuermberg Sinupret Ice Tigers	DEL	10	2	3	5	2	-3	13	2	4	6	10
2007-08	Binghamton Senators	AHL	78	18	22	40	77	-7	--	--	--	--	--
2008-09	VSV EC	Austria	52	20	38	58	66	21
2009-10	Straubing Tigers	DEL	50	13	26	39	48	-12	--	--	--	--	--
2010-11	Straubing Tigers	DEL	52	16	19	35	71	-14	--	--	--	--	--
2011-12	Basel Sharks EHC	Swiss-B	14	5	8	13	4
2011-12	Sierre HC	Swiss-B	2	1	2	3	0
2011-12	Schwenningen ERC	2.GBun	14	0	6	6	8
	NHL Totals		38	3	6	9	8		2	0	0	0	0

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Those Red Deer numbers, sheesh.

 

[Riseonfire]

This thread be like:

 

[nyisles]

There was a bunch of hype for a 3 week period (it felt like that anyway) about Alexei Stonkus.

 

[Chapin Landvogt]

He's playing in Germany just now after like a decade in Sweden.

He's actually on the same team as his brother-in-law (they married sisters).

A visit to Wolfsburg to see the family turned into his next contract.

 

[Wanderson]

Rhett Rakh has ended his career because of illness in his family. I wish him and his family the best.

Avslutar karriären efter sjukdomsfall i familjen

Den dubble SM-guldvinnaren Rhett Rakhshani avslutar karriären. Ett allvarligt sjukdomsfall i 34-åringens familj ligger bakom beslutet. – Beskedet om sjukdomen kom som en stor chock för oss alla, säger Karl-Heinz Fliegauf, vd för Rakhshanis klubb Wolfsburg.

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