I was surprised to find out a month or so ago that he's been playing with no MCL for a couple of years, and a brace on his leg. No wonder the knee keeps going out. Add to that, he's got back-problems that flare up regularly, and I can see where the guy could feel like he just can't do it anymore. It would take a lot of pain, to make a guy walk away from a guaranteed $6M. He's a great player, and I'm really going to miss him, if it's true.
So, if he retires now, we have $6M to spend on a replacement. Lots of names being tossed around, naturally. I have no idea if some of these ideas are realistic, but the free agent season will be upon us before we know it, and all will be revealed.
Now, if Lids announces his retirement next week, I'm going to have to submit to electroshock-therapy to get over it. I don't see that happening, but I didn't see Rafalski retiring, either. Nobody did, that I heard.
Posted on May 23, 2011, 9:35 PM from IP address 69.133.91.239