Nashville Continues to deal: This time Rafalski is off to greener pastures

[Slava]

In a the second major move of the weekend Nashville GM Slava dealt Brian Rafalski to the Anaheim Ducks. Also going to Anaheim are the Boston 2nd and 3rd round picks held by Nashville.

In exchange the Predators acquire Lubomir Visnovsky and Mark Stuart. There is also some money coming back (4.95 million) this season to even out the salaries.

"Basically we made this move to solidify our squad in the coming years. In Visnovsky we have a proven power-play quarterback and save a few years in the process. Stuart is playing full minutes this season for Boston and is expected to be a top four defenceman as his development progresses."

"It is flat-out disappointing to move Rafalski. In all honesty we have relied on him quite heavily this season, but the harsh reality is that we would have trouble affording his new contract which should be nearly $10 million dollars."

Thanks to Ravi for what turned out to be a very quick deal (especially for us!!). We wish Brian all the best in Anaheim as well.

[I wanna be like Miikka]

Well the Ducks have been going for Rafalski for a long time now. We had to settle for Lubo but he was only a transition piece as finally Brian was up for grabs. The Ducks feel that they can afford him and his high price tag next season. He is having a stellar NHL year and we believe he will at least stay at 81OV come next season, maybe even higher.

We had the depth to add Stuart to this deal, he is a good, young, cheap dman that should fill a nice role in Nashville. Visnovsky is a good offensive Dman who will also help a loaded Preds team.

Thanks to Vic for the easy talks and for finally trading me Brian!

[simmer2]

This looks like a good move from both sides. The question mark is whether Visnovsky is just having an off-year or not. If he can rebound and Stuart can remain a permanent 5/6th D-man next year in Bostonn, it looks like an even deal.

[flambers]

The other question is can the Ducks afford to sign Rafalski..... ?

Interesting deal!!