News Article: Michael Raffl: One of the best 3rd line wingers in NHL

Amorgus

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Sep 22, 2017
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deadhead

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Feb 26, 2014
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Raffl is the ideal bottom six player, and why Hextall stresses IQ and two way play.
If he could finish better he'd be a top six winger, and he has shot better lately, but it's always an adventure.
But he's great on the forecheck and maintaining possession while not making the mindfart plays that more talented players tend to commit.

He also exposed Laughton, when Raffl got away from Laughton his scoring took off, without Raffl Laughton has been meh.
This is one of the things that makes Raffl special, he performs well on any line in any role.
 

Striiker

Former Flyers Fan
Jun 2, 2013
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Raffl didn't "expose" Laughton :laugh:

It wasn't Laughton stopping him from scoring, it's that Voracek is a monster and Raffl benefited from playing with him.

Holy shit the attempts to skew reality are so pathetic and transparent.
 

deadhead

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Feb 26, 2014
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Raffl has put up similar metrics with whomever you play him.
Laughton has not looked as good since he lost Raffl.
Draw your own conclusions.
 

Magua

Doer of Hoffific Things
Apr 25, 2016
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Raffl has put up similar metrics with whomever you play him.
Laughton has not looked as good since he lost Raffl.
Draw your own conclusions.

They have identical stats apart this season. At a 57% CF% with each other, +9% relative. And 48% apart, just under 1% relative. Scoring chance rates and high danger ones are even more solid than his Corsi numbers, even apart from Raffl, so that proves your point even less. Players do better with him, and with more than muffin shots.

Raffl also got to play with Flip and Voracek (weird how two top possession players couldn’t even drag him up to average), which butchered his stats. But the team has done everything possible to saddle Laughton with replacements like Lehtera, Ghoul, Weise, and you rag on Leier as not being an NHL player, along with all these guys. Yet, you ignore why Laughton’s stats went down (and somehow they were still almost always positive, especially for chance creating!). There’s a legitimate argument this year to say Laughton has ALSO been a line driver.
 

tymed

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Jun 11, 2007
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Well written, as usual. Nothing more than the eye test should ever been needed for such a simple-gamed player.

I've always been very vocal here about my displeasure for him being moved into the top-6 in spot of injuries or even depth spreading. In part due to the fact that he simply isn't gifted enough offensively to capitalize more highly than average when playing with high skilled players---He plays the same game in his top-6 role as he does in his bottom-6 role. Yes, this allows him to seamlessly fit in and handily drive possession in a scoring role but you'll notice that he also has no additional offensive gifts that come to surface in this role unfortunately. The real problem, however, doesn't lie within the elements that he doesn't bring in a top-6 role, but rather what his absence to our bottom-6 means to our team's success as a whole. Essentially, my argument was always against using him to fill in for injuries in the top 6 because Raffl's value to bottom-6 far outweighs Raffl's value to top-6---That this arrangement had an overall negative impact on the team in contrast to promoting a more offensively skilled, but less well rounded player into a scoring role, while allowing Raffl to remain in the spot of driving the relevance of a 3rd line. We don't actually have a 3rd line unless Raffl is on it and most recent example being that when he was on the 4th line, the 4th line was actually our 3rd line. I never had many people agreeing with this whole angle for some reason, although on the opposite, I agree there's plenty of merit in promoting Raffl based on individual performance.

We're obviously lucky that Bellemare was selected over Raffl in the expansion. He should never have been up for grabs. His absence of upside is likely the reason he was exposed as well as passed on though. LV had to figure they had plenty of upside in their other selections, or at least enough so that when they looked at Raffl/Bellemare for a bottom role, they sided with the shiny stories of Bellemare's international and league-touted tales of leadership and personability. I guess the decision worked out for everyone though, we got a 5th outta Cousins and retained Raffl, while LV can at least make an argument for Bellemare in their particular roster makeup with results.

Somehow Hextall seems to have used Raffl's role/contract as a template for Weise.... That's a shame...
 

dats81

Registered User
Jan 22, 2011
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Usually I dont make threads for articles... but I realised that there has not been a specific Michael Raffl thread that has been posted in in years!

Michael Raffl has flown under the radar as one of the best third-line wingers in the league

Hope you all enjoy.

Good write up!

The south of Austria is really all about hockey in contrast to the northeast where kids are playing soccer instead (and fail miserably doing it).
Found a typo: the capital of Carinthia is spelled KLAGENFURT... you somehow picked up an additional N.
 
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dats81

Registered User
Jan 22, 2011
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Good write up!

The south of Austria is really all about hockey in contrast to the northeast where kids are playing soccer instead (and fail miserably doing it against European competition).
Found a typo: the capital of Carinthia is spelled KLAGENFURT... you somehow picked up an additional N.
 

skagittarius

Registered User
Jan 18, 2016
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PNW
Thanks for the article. I'd agree he's one of the best 3rd liners. Let's keep him there. Also, I believe his 5v5 G/60 the last 3 seasons is in the .66 range. Still not bad, but I've always seen him as an ideal 3rd liner.
 
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deadhead

Registered User
Feb 26, 2014
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Raffl will be fine on the 4th line, especially if they bring up some of the kids.
 

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