Mike Rathje

Rathje was a skilled defensive-minded rearguard. He was a huge piece of business and used his tremendous reach effectively. With the Sharks, he often played on the same pairing as Marcus Ragnarsson.

He was not typical blue line big man. He had no mean streak and he was never going put a guy into the first row with thunderous bodychecks. He was very strong, able to handle top power forwards. But the strength of his game was his surprising skating ability, blessed with mobility and a burst of speed. Combined with excellent positioning Rathje could keep up with the top speedsters. Unfortunately, Rathje's career was cut short by chronic hip and back problems. He never officially retired and spent 2007 to 2010 on the Flyers' long-term injured reserve list.