Rinaldo, like any player has his positives and negatives. I don't disagree with anyone who makes the valid argument that they feel the negatives outweigh the positives. I think they have a legitimate argument. Even with that said, if he couldn't play, he wouldn't be in the NHL. He can play the game well enough to be in the NHL for four seasons and over 223 games. Rinaldo was a player that was pretty much I could take him or leave him. Not exactly a ringing endorsement. I was frustrated over his lack of discipline like everyone else. He has natural raw ability but has not shown that he had hockey smarts to the point where it looked like he could develop and refine his game. My biggest knock against Rinaldo, is I want the team's role players and 4th line players to have more value to the team than just playing a 4th line ES shift. I want them to be able to be trusted to check defensively late in games with leads, and at least contribute on the PK. They tried to move Rinaldo in that direction, but he didn't seize that opportunity when presented to him.

I raise you

Hasktol 15:1
Claude giroux even strength goals 20:1
The penalty kill 2:1

At least hasktol will be nhl networks guys to blame
- Tfaehner

Oooh. I never thought about Haksoll! Good call on that!

Rinlado, like any player has his positives and negatives. I don't disagree with anyone who makes the valid argument that they feel the negatives outweigh the positives. I think they have a legitimate argument. Even with that said, if he couldn't play, he wouldn't be in the NHL. He can play the game well enough to be in the NHL for four seasons and over 223 games. Rinaldo was a player that was pretty much I could take him or leave him. Not exactly a ringing endorsement. I was frustrated over his lack of discipline like everyone else. He has natural raw ability but has not shown that he had hockey smarts to the point where it looked like he could develop and refine his game. My biggest knock against Rinaldo, is I want the team's role players and 4th line players to have more value to the team than just playing a 4th line ES shift. I want them to be able to be trusted to check defensively late in games with leads, and at least contribute on the PK. They tried to move Rinaldo in that direction, but he didn't seize that opportunity when presented to him.
- MJL

He may well stick. Teams, at least some of them, value guys who can't play, but who can hit/fight. There's still some teams that feel a guy like that is necessary. Fortunately, most teams seem to be getting away from that, and the Flyers profited from it.

They got a third rounder for a guy whose quality of play is often found in cheap free agents, like Ryan White or Brian Gibbons-and I feel both White and Gibbons are better players than Rinaldo.
- Jsaquella

I'm going to go out on a limb* (and you can all feel free to mock me when he has a career year, scoring 5 goals) and say that he doesnt stick, that he is unwilling/unable to reinvent himself, and that he wears out his welcome quickly in Boston.


I like White a lot more than I like Rinaldo. I just wish White didnt always seem to be looking at the refs with that whiny face he makes.




* I fully realize that some would say that not only have I not stepped out very far, I've hardly budged from the tree trunk.

They bought out the proper players.
- SuperSchennBros

They were bought out the month before VL was signed so none would have remained anyway. But letting Briere ride out the contract would have been better than this French corpse

- Giroux_Is_God

Amid all this Rinaldo talk, I feel like we haven't addressed the crucial issue, the essential question......

Is he a #4 or #5 defenseman?

- Mononoke

Blazing Saddles hell yeah

If the pick Rinaldo was traded for ends up a nothing, like ~75% of third round picks (based on 100+ games played), it's still a good trade -- at the time and even in hindsight. As a lay person, I'd peg Rinaldo's value as being around a 5-6th round pick in a trade for an interested GM. Perhaps I'm off base, but to me, the value of a 3rd for a player like Rinaldo is a steal. If you were to extrapolate the argument to absurdity about trading a proven NHL player (to whatever degree he is proven) for an unproven draft pick, then a first round pick outside the top 10, which has around 65% of yielding a player who plays 100+ games is a bad trade too.

Sure, if the pick nabs a Ghost or Cousins or Friedman or Sandstrom, premature as our assessments of them are, we'd all be pretty pumped. Or a Benn or whomever unlikely gem you can bring up. The pick will most likely bust, but the idea behind stockpiling picks is knowing that they bust. If the player picked with that Rinaldo pick ends up a nothing, as long as Hextall follows that ideology through year after year of treating 2-4th picks as useful commodities, fruit will bear.
- Mononoke

Bollig was traded from the Hawks for a 3rd a year ago. He and Rinaldo are similar players. I liked Rinaldo but for a 3rd that was a good trade, especially since White does a better job filling the role.

I'm going to go out on a limb* (and you can all feel free to mock me when he has a career year, scoring 5 goals) and say that he doesnt stick, that he is unwilling/unable to reinvent himself, and that he wears out his welcome quickly in Boston.


I like White a lot more than I like Rinaldo. I just wish White didnt always seem to be looking at the refs with that whiny face he makes.




* I fully realize that some would say that not only have I not stepped out very far, I've hardly budged from the tree trunk.
- Doc_Sarcasm

In terms of Rinaldo, the debate should be about his ability to change vs his willingness to change.

I do think if the NHL had banned fighting ten years ago, there's no way he makes the league with his skill set. It's the same with a guy like John Scott, who has played nearly 300 NHL games because he's a huge guy who can fight well on skates. Take away fighting and Scott doesn't sniff the NHL unless he's buying a ticket. I think the same goes for Rinaldo.

It's the same with a guy like John Scott, who has played nearly 300 NHL games because he's a huge guy who can fight well on skates.
- Jsaquella

If he did nothing else memorable in his career, John Scott helped create this meme. For that he deserved to be in the NHL and has my thanks.

I think the fact that Rinaldo wanted to become more involved and play on the PK, showed in some way he was willing to change and grow as a player. Taking away a skill set of a player, such as ability to fight, and say if he didn't have that, he wouldn't have made the league, is fantasy. Fighting still is part of the game. That can be said about a lot of players. I personally don't think that Rinaldo would've made the league on his fighting ability alone, so there is more to it. It was his total physical ability that earned him a spot in the league.

If he did nothing else memorable in his career, John Scott helped create this meme. For that he deserved to be in the NHL and has my thanks.
- Mononoke

Yes. That is funny. I don't begrudge a guy making the NHL because he can fight, but let's not go so far as to act as if he's got hockey skills or is a NHL level talent because he can fight.

Obviously somebody in the Bruins front office see the flashes in Rinaldo-he does skate well, he is physical-and figures maybe a change of scenery can make him more than an out of control nincompoop who hurts a team more than he helps them.

Me, I'd rather sign a guy like White as a free agent and keep my third rounder. Others are entitled to their opinions, but over his career, Rinaldo has shown few signs of being capable of being more than a hard hitting idiot. He's had chance after chance, and he's been unable to become more than an agitator who can't play a regular shift as a defensive forward, be trusted on the PK or bring offense.

You can find a guy who is physical and who can do those other things cheaply in free agency. 4-5 of them get signed every summer.

Bollig was traded from the Hawks for a 3rd a year ago. He and Rinaldo are similar players. I liked Rinaldo but for a 3rd that was a good trade, especially since White does a better job filling the role.
- moylander

Yeah, Bollig is a similar situation. I'd rather have my 3rd rounder than him, too

Yeah, Bollig is a similar situation. I'd rather have my 3rd rounder than him, too
- Jsaquella

That Bollig trade has Brian Burke written all over it, and he's certainly one of the old guard upper management types. I feel like few GMs today would make that trade. The brain trust over in Boston -- Sweeney, Neely, and Jacobs -- well, that group is another who would make such a trade, and the Flyers just happened to be the beneficiary when it came to giving them what they wanted while picking their pockets. Boston's "new" management has done very little this summer to assuage fans' fears that they aren't exactly on top of things. If I were a Bruins fan I'd be beside myself. But I'm not (thank the Lord).

Give me a White or Bellemare all day, everyday over Rinaldo.

That Bollig trade has Brian Burke written all over it, and he's certainly one of the old guard upper management types. I feel like few GMs today would make that trade. The brain trust over in Boston -- Sweeney, Neely, and Jacobs -- well, that group is another who would make such a trade, and the Flyers just happened to be the beneficiary when it came to giving them what they wanted while picking their pockets. Boston's "new" management has done very little this summer to assuage fans' fears that they aren't exactly on top of things. If I were a Bruins fan I'd be beside myself. But I'm not (thank the Lord).

Give me a White or Bellemare all day, everyday over Rinaldo.
- Mononoke

Yeah, the Bruins really had themselves a bad summer. They're a markedly worse team on paper, and agreed on White and Bellemare. Those are guys that you can plug in and play without worry in a one goal game.

That Bollig trade has Brian Burke written all over it, and he's certainly one of the old guard upper management types. I feel like few GMs today would make that trade. The brain trust over in Boston -- Sweeney, Neely, and Jacobs -- well, that group is another who would make such a trade, and the Flyers just happened to be the beneficiary when it came to giving them what they wanted while picking their pockets. Boston's "new" management has done very little this summer to assuage fans' fears that they aren't exactly on top of things. If I were a Bruins fan I'd be beside myself. But I'm not (thank the Lord).

Give me a White or Bellemare all day, everyday over Rinaldo.
- Mononoke

I still can't believe we got a 3rd for him. I admit I liked watching him fight, but that certainly was it.

Yeah, the Bruins really had themselves a bad summer. They're a markedly worse team on paper, and agreed on White and Bellemare. Those are guys that you can plug in and play without worry in a one goal game.
- Jsaquella

I think they'll wind up with Franson which probably puts them firmly ahead of us

I think the fact that Rinaldo wanted to become more involved and play on the PK, showed in some way he was willing to change and grow as a player. Taking away a skill set of a player, such as ability to fight, and say if he didn't have that, he wouldn't have made the league, is fantasy. Fighting still is part of the game. That can be said about a lot of players. I personally don't think that Rinaldo would've made the league on his fighting ability alone, so there is more to it. It was his total physical ability that earned him a spot in the league.
- MJL

I'll give Rinaldo credit for being a really smooth skater and has the ability to ware down opposing players by grinding and hitting but he's always been able to do these things. He plays minimal minutes, he's reckless with his hits, cannot help special teams and has limited skill with the puck.

If he did nothing else memorable in his career, John Scott helped create this meme. For that he deserved to be in the NHL and has my thanks.
- Mononoke

That Bollig trade has Brian Burke written all over it, and he's certainly one of the old guard upper management types. I feel like few GMs today would make that trade. The brain trust over in Boston -- Sweeney, Neely, and Jacobs -- well, that group is another who would make such a trade, and the Flyers just happened to be the beneficiary when it came to giving them what they wanted while picking their pockets. Boston's "new" management has done very little this summer to assuage fans' fears that they aren't exactly on top of things. If I were a Bruins fan I'd be beside myself. But I'm not (thank the Lord).

Give me a White or Bellemare all day, everyday over Rinaldo.
- Mononoke

When putting a team together, player aren't bunched up in a pile and the better players are picked. Generally a team is looking for certain characteristics in a player. Boston lost Lucic, and Thornton has been gone a while. Boston was obviously looking to add some toughness and grit to the lineup, Rinaldo was a low cost available option for them.Their pockets weren't picked. A 3rd round pick for Rinaldo is a fair deal for both sides.