5 years,. $30M sez TSN

Posted by Tyler on 07/01/07 at 03:06 PM ET

5yr 30million

Posted by FlyersFan on 07/01/07 at 03:06 PM ET

Kick ass.

Posted by PDXWing from Portland, OR on 07/01/07 at 03:07 PM ET

why isnt complaining that red wings signed too much for a 34 yr old defenseman, timmoen deal looks like a bargin right now for flyers

Posted by FlyersFan on 07/01/07 at 03:08 PM ET

why isnt complaining that red wings signed too much for a 34 yr old defenseman

Probably because people see it as a swap of a 34 year old for a 38 year old in Schneider.

And a cap hit of $6 million is still lower that the $6.3 million of Kimmo Timmonnenn, so I don’t think either player is a bargain.

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 07/01/07 at 03:11 PM ET

(Meant to say the amounts are comparable.  It isn’t as though one of the guys signed for $2 million a year less than the other.)

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 07/01/07 at 03:12 PM ET

HOT DOG!

he is worth it.  Behind Timmonen he was the best defensmen on the market in my opinion.  I think he wanted to come to Detroit seeing he is from dearborn, and Kenny said he wasn’t going to make a deal today….. and because he said so in an article not to long ago.

Posted by Jdunc from Flint, MI on 07/01/07 at 03:13 PM ET

Timonen isnt a bargain, you overpaid for that guy, especially the 8 mill he gets this season.

Posted by yzerman19 from Nashville on 07/01/07 at 03:13 PM ET

What is Rafalski’s play like?  I haven’t seen the Devils much, so I recognize the name but nothing else.

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 07/01/07 at 03:20 PM ET

I’d swap Schneider for Rafalski.  He’s from Michigan and is happy to be here, decay and all…

Posted by snafu from Michigan on 07/01/07 at 03:21 PM ET

Rafalski’s much more sound defensively than Schneider, and he skates just as well, if not better than Schneider, but he puts up about 10 goals a year and 40-50 assists, so he doesn’t have the same cannon from the point, and as he’s smaller, he does get bumped around on occasion.

I would have preferred to see the Wings give Schneid $6 million for 2 years and then go after someone else.  This effectively halves our spending money, too, giving us about $6-8 million to re-sign Dom and Bert (and that’s how I’m betting it will go).

Posted by George Malik from South Lyon, MI on 07/01/07 at 03:30 PM ET

Georgeums, signing Matty for 2 yrs would have done the same to the Wings ability to re-sign Dom or Bert.  The thing is, with a better defenseman and puck mover, the Wings fix the defensive liability side that Matt had.  You needed a guy like Markov and Schneider given the kids the Wings have, but with Rafalski in the mix now, your top 3 D are Lids, Rafalski and Kronwall.  That can easily be matched with Cheli, Lebda, Quincey/Kindl, and perhaps one more defenseman at <$3 MM.  And this starts to look like the backbone of a solid defensive group for the next 5+ yrs.  Kronwall and Rafalski are on longterm deals now, with several youngsters coming up.

Posted by snafu from Michigan on 07/01/07 at 03:36 PM ET

gotta concur with snafu.  I love this move, our d is just as good as it was and it’s going to stay that way for quite some time.

Posted by Todzilla on 07/01/07 at 03:58 PM ET

Yeah, I think Rafalski could possible be a solid top 5 point producer amongst d-men in Detroit.  Both he and Lidstrom could put up 60+ points apiece.

Posted by Dave on 07/01/07 at 03:59 PM ET

I like the move. What is cool is that Rafalski is a right hand shot—this has gotta help the Wings on the PP. True, he doesn’t have the bomb that Schneider had from the point, but he is more sound defensively, and I suspect that a right handed shooting dman will help a wildly inconsistent PP considerably.

Posted by The Reverend CJ from Southgate on 07/01/07 at 09:34 PM ET