Forward Michael Raffl might have a lot of promise, but he won’t be featured in the Philadelphia Flyers’ season opener. The team announced that Raffl and defensemen Oliver Lauridsen have been sent to AHL Adirondack.
Raffl, 24, attracted attention during the 2013 World Hockey Championships when he played on the same line as Buffalo’s Tomas Vanek, but he stood out even before that in the Swedish second division. He led that league with 46 points in 49 games while playing on the same team as Nashville Predators rookie Filip Forsberg.
“He’s a good player, who we think can be NHL ready,” Flyers Director of Hockey Operations Chris Pryor said after signing Raffl over the summer. “There’s going to be a learning curve, but he’s got enough in his game to be able to make that adjustment rather quickly.”
Raffl took part in four preseason games and didn’t record a point.
Lauridsen was originally taken in the seventh round of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, but he worked his way up to the NHL last season, playing in 15 games with Philadelphia. Even still, he was a long shot to make a team that featured eight other defensemen signed to one-way contracts, not including Chris Pronger.