Flyers Midseason Report Card: Michael Raffl provides solid depth at forward

Who doesn’t love long-time Flyers forward Michael Raffl? The former undrafted free agent is in his 8th season in orange and black, and though he has battled a few injuries recently, his play is still mostly at his usual standard.

The quintessential bottom-six guy, Raffl brings some much-needed sandpaper to the lineup and also sees decent time on the penalty kill. His three goals and four assists in 21 games aren’t exceptional, but for a veteran bottom-six guy at only 1.5 million, he certainly is filling his role.

While not nearly as prolific as other Flyers, advanced possession statistics like Corsi (46.72%) show that Raffl isn’t the worst in his own end, especially on the penalty kill. While a number of his 5-on-5 numbers show him to be aggressively average, he actually has pretty solid numbers on the penalty kill, outperforming other noteworthy penalty-killer Scott Laughton.

While his grit is certainly something to commend, his 30 hits are the second-most by a Flyers forward this season, he has a tendency to take penalties at inopportune times. He is tied for the second most PIMS on the Flyers this year with 12, all of which minors of his own doing. With a team whose special teams have struggled as it has, this is certainly something Raffl needs to be more careful with.

Looking at it from the “eye test” perspective, I feel like Raffl can be streaky from time to time. He will go long stretches where it feels as though he’s always involved in plays, and other times full games will pass without ever hearing his name. As a bottom-six guy, that can happen, but it can feel like other guys in the bottom six don’t fall into that trap.

To look at some completely meaningless numbers, EA Sports’ NHL 2021 has Michael Raffl’s overall listed at 79. This puts him on an equal playing field with Vancouver Canucks centerman Jay Beagle. I personally feel like that’s not an equal comparison, but Raffl at 79 feels fitting.

Overall while he plays far from a perfect game, watching Raffl fly on the ice and bang some bodies is always fun viewing. He seems to be a great locker room guy, but his scoring is definitely down from where you’d want him to be, and where he usually is.