The Philadelphia Flyers announced the signing of Michael Raffl Tuesday. Overall, it’s a good move for both parties.
On Tuesday, the Philadelphia Flyers announced that they have re-signed winger Michael Raffl to a two-year extension worth $1.6 million annually. The deal will take the Austrian winger through the 2020-21 season.
Raffl has 18 points in 61 games this season, mainly playing in the bottom six. Moving forward, that’s likely a spot he’ll stay in.
It wasn’t too uncommon to see former coaches Craig Berube or Dave Hakstol using Raffl in the top six — or even the top line. Since Scott Gordon has taken over, Raffl has been a mainstay on the bottom two lines.
Although that’s a demotion in playing time, it’s the perfect role for the 30-year-old. He’s strong against the boards, is sound defensively and offers a good pairing with center Scott Laughton, both at even strength and shorthanded.
Flyers fans are expecting a big offseason from the team this year, and while this move isn’t headline-grabbing, it does help to improve the team. I wrote last week that Philly needed a revamped fourth line. If general manager Chuck Fletcher adds elsewhere and Raffl plays on the fourth line, the team will be better off for it.
For those reasons, and for the cheap cap hit, I like this deal. There’s still logically a spot or two open for a prospect next year, and Raffl’s deal is cheap enough that he’s a reasonable 13th forward either in 2019-20 or 20-21 should he be passed on the depth chart.
There was a chance the Flyers would move Raffl at this past year’s trade deadline, but it’s clear that Fletcher liked what he saw from the left winger. The GM was also able to sign Raffl on a pay cut. He was making $2.35 million for the past two years.
For Raffl, he got to stay in the only NHL city he knows as home and guarantee he has a paycheck for the next two seasons. Sometimes, that’s a commodity for a bottom-six player in his thirties.
According to Cap Friendly, the Flyers still have $31 million in cap space for 2019-20 (though with Ivan Provorov and Travis Konecny to re-sign, among others). This extension helps the team, while also leaving plenty of money left over.
Raffl has 132 total points across his six seasons in the orange and black, including a 20-goal campaign in 2014-15. He’s one of the longest-tenured Flyers in the locker room.