Friday, May 31, 2013

Flyers make signings of Lamarche, Raffl official

The Philadelphia Flyers on Friday afternoon officially lifted the veil on their two newest signees, revealing that defenseman Maxim Lamarche and forward Michael Raffl have each signed three-year, entry-level contracts.

For Raffl, the 24-year-old Austrian winger, the Orange and Black won out over several suitors including the Nashville Predators.

“Both (Director of Player Personnel) Dave Brown and myself as well as (European Scout) Ilkka (Sinisalo) saw him at the World Championships and he’s a good player,” said Director of Hockey Operations Chris Pryor. “You noticed him over there. He’s got skill. He thinks the game. He’s a versatile guy and can do a lot of different things. “He’s a good player, who we think can be NHL ready. 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 struck for 24 goals and 46 points in 49 games this past season for Leksands in the Swedish Elite League, his second season there after six with his native country skating for VSV EC.

Lamarche, 20, an "overage junior" from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, finished 2012-13 by posting nine goals and 43 points in 55 contests along with a career-best plus-31 with the Baie-Comeau Drakkar. He added three goals and eight assists in 19 postseason games as the Drakkar made it to the league finals before being demolished by Halifax.

Over four seasons in the "Q" with Victoriaville and Baie-Comeau, the native of suburban Montreal racked up 23 goals and 90 assists over 252 appearances.

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