Michael Raffl has settled back into Salzburg after his long NHL career. In an interview with NHL.com/de the Villach native reveals that staying in the NHL would have been possible!
“Salzburg is beautiful, great organization, and we as a family feel very comfortable,” said the 36-year-old in an interview NHL.com/de. He is particularly happy about playing together with his brother Thomas again for the first time: “It was a dream of both of ours that we could play together again.”
After years in Philadelphia, Washington and Dallas, Raffl moved back to Europe in 2022 – first to Switzerland, now to EC Red Bull Salzburg. About the level of the domestic league he says: “The league is balanced, the level is certainly not bad. But Switzerland is one of the best leagues in Europe.” He has big goals for Salzburg: “Of course the big dream is to win again.”
An NHL comeback wasn’t an issue for Raffl, even if there were offers: “There were options to stay there. Dallas was the main option. But I wanted to play more again and have a bigger role.” He continues to follow the NHL closely – especially his former teams Philadelphia and Dallas. He says about Austria’s new stars Marco Rossi and Marco Kasper: “Both are making huge steps. Rossi is playing top minutes in Minnesota and Kasper has the potential to become one of the best Austrian players of all time.”
