Goodbye, Brian Rafalski. I have no idea what Lou has in mind for his blue line corps, but losing Rafalski on the first day of free agency probably wasn’t his Plan A. That said, I’m hoping Plan B is really, really exciting, because one of the leading names I wanted to see in NJ — all-time leading Jewish scorer and former Red Wing Mathieu Schneider — just went west to the Ducks. And Johnny Oduya wasn’t made a qualifying offer, so he’s free to sign elsewhere without any form of compensation.
I’m going to wager that opinions will be split on this. Rafalski was a good guy, a hard worker, and really steeped in the Devils style: undrafted, picked up out of the European elite leagues, and a big contributor during two Cup runs. That’s the good side. The past season and a half, he seemed almost always a half step out of place or play, whether misplaying the puck on the power play or just being ineffective at shutting down big lines. We’ll miss him, certainly, and I’m glad he didn’t end up with the Rangers or Flyers because then we’d end up implicitly cheering against him.
With Daniel Briere migrating south to the City of Brotherly Love, the field is in play. There are some names out there, and with Rafalski gone, Mogilny and Malakov off of the payroll, and the salary cap raised to over $50M, I’m hoping Lou and Jeff open the wallet up. Soon. The whole free agency thing is likely to be down to mouse nuts by Independence Day.
