A year ago, Michael Raffl was living in near anonymity in Leksand - a quiet town of 5,934 residents in the middle of freezing Sweden. Raffl led his Swedish Elite League team in scoring, but had not yet popped up on the NHL radar. Time was running out. He was already 24, reaching the age where few players stop being viewed as prospects. "You should have seen that place," Raffl said. "There was nothing going on. I couldn't even go to dinner at night, everything closed early." One year later, Raffl has played in 60 NHL games and signed a 2-year contract extension that will pay him $2.2 million. Raffl has nine goals and 12 assists for 21 points in 59 games. "I think he's done a really good job," coach Craig Berube said. "He's skating really well. He's on top of people. He's forechecking hard. He's getting some opportunities to score. He's doing a good job killing penalties. He's been a valuable player for us for a while." Raffl has the energy and consistency of a fourth-line player, but the skill to create scoring chances for his linemates.