By now you probably know that Michael Raffl will return to Philadelphia next year, and by all indications, that's probably a good thing.

On Saturday, immediately after the Flyers defeated the St. Louis Blues 4-1, general manager Paul Holmgren announced that Michael Raffl signed a two-year, $2.2 million contract extension. Details of total payment each year are still under wraps, but we know that it will cost $1.1 million against the cap, up from around $800,000 this year.

Charlie took a nice analytical look at Raffl back in December and found some pretty tasty nuggets. Since then, Raffl's gotten 35 additional NHL games under his belt and his usage on the ice has been altered quite a bit.

On the heels of his contract extension, let's take another deep look at how Raffl has contributed to the Flyers, and whether or not keeping him was the right move. (Statistics cited below are through Saturday's games.)

Production

Raffl's production can be summed up in one word: respectable. He currently has nine goals and 21 points in 57 games, which is not too shabby given this is his first year playing on North American ice. He ranks 24th in rookie scoring across the NHL, which is, again, not amazing but not something to dismiss.

While his production is not so flashy now, there are a few things worth noting. Raffl has, in recent weeks, seen most of his ice time on the fourth line. Playing with Adam Hall and Zac Rinaldo is bound to hinder your ability to put the puck in the net, so we have to cut Raffl some slack here.

And it's not like he is getting a good number of minutes -- he currently plays just 10.7 minutes of even strength hockey per 60 minutes. The only people who have get fewer even strength minutes on the Flyers this year are Rinaldo, Hall, Chris VandeVelde, Kris Newbury, and Jay Rosehill.

Considering he's shown some signs of brilliance and has immeasurably more hockey sense than most fourth liners in the league, those trends will likely change. Craig Berube has already demonstrated that he's comfortable putting Raffl on multiple lines, and perhaps Raffl's low minutes this year are just a way of conditioning him into NHL hockey. Regardless of why Raffl isn't seeing much ice time with quality teammates, we can be fairly certain that he'll get a promotion sometime soon (more on that below).

Usage

Right now, Raffl is getting some pretty sheltered minutes. He starts 33.4% of his shifts in the offensive zone, and has an offensive to defensive zone start ratio of 56.8 percent. Some Flyers -- like Scott Hartnell and Vincent Lecavalier -- have seen more offensive zone starts, but Raffl is near the top of the list.

That being said, it should be noted that he's coming out relatively better than some of his teammates. For example, both Wayne Simmonds and Lecavalier have offensive to defensive zone start ratios very similar to Raffl's, but generate less than 50% of all shot attempts when they are on the ice. I think it would be hard to argue that Lecavalier and Simmonds are duds (well, maybe Lecavalier), so we probably shouldn't put too much stock into this stat when judging Raffl.

Berube isn't really using Raffl against top competition, but we'll chalk that up to Raffl being used primarily on the fourth line. Also, unless your name is Sean Couturier, your coach is probably going to shelter you a bit in your rookie season.