The Debut of Brogan Rafferty
Brogan Rafferty was signed just a couple of days ago and was — in the words of Coach Green — thrown into the fire last night. He didn’t have much time to get himself situated before being told that he’d be in the lineup last night.
After being signed out of Quinnipiac University, Rafferty was ready to make his NHL debut last night. Coach Green said at the morning skate that we may see Rafferty play alongside Ben Hutton or Alex Edler, but he played almost the entire game alongside Hutton. Green also added that he’s watched video of Rafferty and is excited to have him, saying Rafferty is a great signing by the Canucks’ management group.
Wearing Kevin Bieksa‘s old number three, Rafferty can now be added to the growing list of players who have had successful Canucks debuts this season. Although his debut wasn’t as highly anticipated as Pettersson’s was back in October — fans were excited to see another young and talented right-handed defenceman in a Canucks’ uniform.
Rafferty tried not to do too much, and finished the night with one shot on goal, and just over twelve minutes of ice time. Unfortunately for Rafferty, he was on the ice for the Predators bizarre tying goal — but more on that later.
Green talked about Rafferty’s skating ability, hands, and abilities offensively, but watch him lay out this Nashville player who tried to line him up for a hit:
The new guy, Brogan Rafferty, making his presence felt #Canucks pic.twitter.com/4BAIJ8M5fo
— Sportsnet 650 (@Sportsnet650) April 5, 2019
Not bad, kid; not bad at all. Rafferty will likely get into his second game of the season this Saturday in the Canucks’ final game of the season. He will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season, so him making his debut before getting much practice in makes sense — the team wants to get as much of a look at him as possible before making the decision whether or not to re-sign him.
Rafferty was pleased with his debut to an extent, but wasn’t pleased that his team didn’t come out victorious. After the game, Rafferty said, “Amazing experience. It was everything I dreamed of, except for the final score. They’re a really good team, they had a great 3rd-period push” Another solid young player who hates losing? I’ll take it.