A season that began with promise for the 29 year old Austrian ended Wednesday night following a 4-2 Manitoba loss when Moose coach Keith McCambridge told us that Thomas Raffl was “done for the season”. Raffl’s last game was in Texas against the Stars last weekend. In total he played just 31 games for Manitoba in 2015-16 registering five goals and five assists.
Raffl entered Jets training camp as a intriguing player to watch who turned a PTO into a one way, one year deal worth $575,000.00. The plan was for Raffl to begin the season with the Manitoba Moose of the AHL and see if he could crack the Jets lineup. Problem was the injury bug hampered him from the outset of the season in the AHL. In the season opener for the Moose in Toronto he was hit by Marlies defenceman Viktor Loov and suffered a range of injuries including a dislocated collarbone, broken rib and a concussion. Just when he was getting back into the swing of things he broke his jaw in practice in mid December and was out until the end of January. The belief is he was injured again this past weekend in Texas.
Does this mean the end for Thomas Raffl’s quest to make the NHL? Will the Jets take another chance on him next season? Guess we will have to wait to find out.
