He was never a forward in college. He was always a defensemen at Minnesota, and on satellite at least was on tv it seemed every weekend. He's a smallish puck-moving defenseman. The only knock on him is his size. Although he's compared to Letang, he's probably 15 pounds lighter, if not 20.
I'm sure the Pens are working on bulking him up, because the guy can clearly pass and skate. He needs to get physically stronger, but hopefully that can happen.
Rafalski is listed as being 190. Goligoski is nowhere near 190, although I do not know what his "official" weight is. I wouldn't be surprised if he were a bit less than 180.