Lucas Raymond breakout season

[JohanFranzenstein]

And here I thought losing the 2020 draft lottery was a franchise altering failure

 

[BKarchitect]

He might be that offensive game breaker that a lot of people didnt think the wings had in their rebuild. 21 years old with 30+ goals and 70+ points make me think theres 40 goal 90 point potential at his best, especially the way he started slow this year and has built as the year went on.

He was the best player from his draft class this season

For sure. Doesn't mean he will be better than say, Stutzle, every single year. I think we get too caught up on better this year = better every single year. But this year, I think clearly Raymond has shone more than everyone in what is already a sick draft class.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

He's gross , great contract for what he brings to that DRW team

 

[Czechboy]

Him (and Larkin) having a great 2025!

91 point pace overall.

 

[BKarchitect]

Pasta and FF9 are sure back with a vengeance this calendar year as well. Wow.

Best Swedish winger *right now* would actually be a pretty competitive comp between Raymond, Nylander, Bratt, Forsberg and Kempe. That's a sick group. Too bad the center group has seen EP, Ziba and Lindholm all take tumbles.

 

[Czechboy]

Pasta and FF9 are sure back with a vengeance this calendar year as well. Wow.

Best Swedish winger *right now* would actually be a pretty competitive comp between Raymond, Nylander, Bratt, Forsberg and Kempe. That's a sick group. Too bad the center group has seen EP, Ziba and Lindholm all take tumbles.

Swedes are flying right now.. one of their goalies in top 3 talks in a lot of mid season reviews too. Then you got all those damn elite Dmen.lol

Pasta had himself a slow start and was getting lapped by Necas. At the biggest gap I said I thought he'd catch Necas. Now he has. Curious if Necas can catch him back!

 

[FriendlyGhost92]

He's gross , great contract for what he brings to that DRW team

There are still Detroit fans that wanna pay Marner $13M while they have Raymond at $8M x 8 lmao.

 

[Coach Reggie Dunlop]

Very quietly on pace for 92 points this year. You hear nothing about him on this board unless it’s wings fans. Which is shocking considering it’s an O6 team.

There are still Detroit fans that wanna pay Marner $13M while they have Raymond at $8M x 8 lmao.

No but I’d easily give rantanen 13+ lol

 

[FriendlyGhost92]

Very quietly on pace for 92 points this year. You hear nothing about him on this board unless it’s wings fans. Which is shocking considering it’s an O6 team.


No but I’d easily give rantanen 13+ lol

Pass on Rantanen too.

Nothing against him, really. Detroit just needs the improvements in other areas way more than at the wing.

 

[Coach Reggie Dunlop]

Pass on Rantanen too.

Nothing against him, really. Detroit just needs the improvements in other areas way more than at the wing.

They need the help at wing pretty bad too man. They need help everywhere. Passing on a guy who is a 100point player who is 6’4 and would fit like a glove on a line with Larkin and Raymond is crazy.

 

[FriendlyGhost92]

They need the help at wing pretty bad too man. They need help everywhere. Passing on a guy who is a 100point player who is 6’4 and would fit like a glove on a line with Larkin and Raymond is crazy.

Paying him $13M/year until he's 36 is more sane?

 

[tfong]

Some of the takes in here aged like milk. Seth Jarvis being better than Raymond, lmao.

This kid gets so little respect around the league. He doesn’t benefit from playing with Larkin anymore- it is definitively the other way around. If Larkin was with anyone else he’d be at 30 pts this season, he hasn’t been great other than the last 10ish games.

Raymond is a superstar and will be the best player from the 2020 draft. He will hit 90 this year and 100 next.

Alright whats with the Larkin slander. Hes not Gagner.

 

[RedHawkDown]

Alright whats with the Larkin slander. Hes not Gagner.

Not slander - he's a great player, and obviously one of my favorites as a DRW fan. But he hasn't been himself most of this year until the last few games. My point was simply that Raymond is clearly the one driving the line, and Larkin's points have in many cases come from being in the right place when Raymond is creating the offense.

 

[tfong]

Not slander - he's a great player, and obviously one of my favorites as a DRW fan. But he hasn't been himself most of this year until the last few games. My point was simply that Raymond is clearly the one driving the line, and Larkin's points have in many cases come from being in the right place when Raymond is creating the offense.

Ok but like 30? Even a bad year Larkin is still 40 at least and he was hurt AND bad that year.

 

[RedHawkDown]

Ok but like 30? Even a bad year Larkin is still 40 at least.

I meant 30 points so far haha. I think he would still hit 50-55 in a bad year.

 

[tfong]

I meant 30 points so far haha. I think he would still hit 50-55 in a bad year.

I was just thinking back on that 20-21 year ugh. That top line of Larkin, Mantha and uhhh Fabbri I think.

 

[RedHawkDown]

I was just thinking back on that 20-21 year ugh. That top line of Larkin, Mantha and uhhh Fabbri I think.

It was 19-20 maybe you're thinking of where he hit 53 points carrying Bertuzzi and Mantha. Yeah, bad times. We finished last by 20 points and dropped 3 spots in the draft.

Little did we know we'd get the best player anyway.

 

[tfong]

It was 19-20 maybe you're thinking of where he hit 53 points carrying Bertuzzi and Mantha. Yeah, bad times. We finished last by 20 points and dropped 3 spots in the draft.

Little did we know we'd get the best player anyway.

No i was thinking that shortened season where he had 23 points (I just prorated that to 40 ish points over 82) and Hronek was the leading scorer haha.

 

[NikolaTesla]

Kid is hella good.

 

[newfy]

For sure. Doesn't mean he will be better than say, Stutzle, every single year. I think we get too caught up on better this year = better every single year. But this year, I think clearly Raymond has shone more than everyone in what is already a sick draft class.

I think theyre actually pretty comparable players, I'm not saying he'll be better every year. But there is/was a rhetoric on this board that Stutzle has separated from everyone in his draft class and in redrafts even last year people had Raymond falling. I think theyre both the clear top guys from that draft

We're going on two years in a row now where Raymond has been better than Stutzle though so some narrative around the two should shift

 

[Dotter]

I think theyre actually pretty comparable players, I'm not saying he'll be better every year. But there is/was a rhetoric on this board that Stutzle has separated from everyone in his draft class and in redrafts even last year people had Raymond falling. I think theyre both the clear top guys from that draft

We're going on two years in a row now where Raymond has been better than Stutzle though so some narrative around the two should shift

I don't know who is better, their career numbers seem pretty comparable. One thing that stands out to me about Raymond is he has BEAST mode that he can and does flip at will. He has "championship" material written all over him. I think TM is right about that.

Those are the type of players Yzerman is drafting. I think Kasper will also be a true BEAST mode player. Look at what he did in the playoffs, he could not be contained.