Raymond emerging as star for Red Wings, hopes to do same for Team Sweden

DETROIT -- Lucas Raymond is about to play the most important hockey of his life, the kind of hockey that can push the emerging star to an even higher level.

The 23-year-old forward will play for the Detroit Red Wings against the Colorado Avalanche at Little Caesars Arena on Saturday (1 p.m. ET; ABC, SNP, SNO, SNE). The Avalanche (35-8-9) lead the NHL. The Red Wings (32-17-6) are two points behind the Tampa Bay Lightning for first place in the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference.

A week later, he’ll leave for Italy to make his Olympic debut for Sweden in the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.

“I’m so caught up and focused on what we’re trying to do here, so you kind of forget about it,” he said. “And then you see stuff online, and people start talking about it, and you kind of get reminded, and you’re like, ‘All right. It’s going to be pretty sweet.’ I’m fired up.”

The tournament runs from Feb. 11-22. When Raymond returns, the Red Wings will try to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in a decade. If they do, he’ll get his first taste of the NHL postseason.

His experience with Detroit should help him with Sweden, and his experience with Sweden should help him with Detroit.

“He’s very, very competitive,” Sweden coach Sam Hallam said. “Now, if you get to the NHL level, you are competitive. But he’s that last percentage -- ultra-competitive. So, I know losing games bothers him, and that the team has been playing for a playoff spot, it just pushes him to be even better, because he hates losing. Put that together with his maturity, he’s not out on the ice for himself. He plays the game to win as a team.”

Raymond has been a key part of the Red Wings rebuild.

After finishing last in the NHL in 2019-20 -- with a .275 points percentage, the third worst in their century of history -- they needed to make the best of the situation by drafting a difference-maker. They had the best odds to win the No. 1 pick in the NHL Draft Lottery. Still, they had only an 18.5 percent chance.

They ended up with the No. 4 pick.

Bad luck? Not necessarily, general manager Steve Yzerman pointed out at the time.

“Maybe it seems that way today, but ultimately, let’s see in a few years,” said Yzerman, who went to Detroit No. 4 in the 1983 NHL Draft and became a Hockey Hall of Famer. “We’ll see how the draft shakes out and who becomes a good player. We’re going to get a great prospect, and how good of a player he becomes, time will tell.”

The Red Wings selected Raymond No. 4 in the 2020 NHL Draft. He still represented their highest pick since 1990, when they selected forward Keith Primeau at No. 3. Yzerman said then that they thought Raymond had “all the tools to be an elite forward in the NHL.”

That’s what he has turned out to be.

The player selected one spot in front of Raymond -- center Tim Stutzle of the Ottawa Senators, an Atlantic Division rival -- leads the 2020 draft class with 381 points (139 goals, 242 assists) in 420 games. Raymond is second with 312 points (116 goals, 196 assists) in 373 games.

But Stutzle entered the League in 2020-21, Raymond in 2021-22. Since the start of the 2023-24 season, Raymond leads the 2020 draft class with 210 points (76 goals, 134 assists) in 217 games. Stutzle is second with 204 points (66 goals, 138 assists) in 210 games.

Raymond ranks 27th in the NHL in points over the past three seasons.

He led the Red Wings each of the past two seasons, with 72 points (31 goals, 41 assists) in 82 games in 2023-24 and 80 points (27 goals, 53 assists) in 82 games last season. Despite missing two games with a shoulder injury and playing through it afterward early this season, he leads them with 58 points (18 goals, 40 assists) in 53 games, on pace for an NHL career high of 87 points (27 goals, 60 assists) in 80 games.

Is he playing at his highest level?

“I’d like to think not, right?” he said.

Raymond still has room to grow. Example: He has such a good shot that Red Wings coach Todd McLellan urges him to shoot more often.

“I view ‘Razor’ as a 35-, 45-goal scorer, and that’s pushing him to get there,” McLellan said. “But without shooting the puck, he’s not going to get there. He’s not going to have the chance.”

When Raymond set his NHL career high of 31 goals in 2023-24, he had 163 shots on goal. His shooting percentage was an NHL career high of 19.0. The next season, he had 27 goals with a shooting percentage of 14.1. He set an NHL career high of 192 shots.

“You look at the top goal-scorers in this League, the magnitude of shots, that’s a key thing,” said Raymond, who has 111 shots on goal and a 16.2 shooting percentage this season. “You’re not going to be able to shoot at a 20-percent rate. To get to those high-scoring numbers, you’ve got to have a lot of shots. That’s something we talk about a lot and want to get more into my game.”

Raymond has a well-rounded game, though. At the 4 Nations Face-Off last season, he represented Sweden for the first time in a best-on-best tournament and had three assists in three games.

“He’s been a fantastic player individually since junior age, but at the same time, he is so good at adapting to a system,” said Hallam, who has coached him internationally three times and chats with him relatively often. “He follows the playbook. He does the right things. He plays like an older, [more] mature player than he actually is. You forget at times that he’s just a 23-year-old. He plays with so much ownership and responsibility.

“I think that was the main part. He came out on that stage against the best players in the world, and he was legit. You’re confident when you have ‘Ray’ on the ice, because he backchecks, he forechecks in the system, and then he has the skill to do his offensive things.”

Raymond was one of the first six players named to Sweden’s Olympic roster June 16, and he expects to play a leading role in Milan like he does in Detroit. But he’ll do whatever it takes.

“I think my game there is going to be similar to my game here, try to have an impact in my way,” he said. “I think when you go in a tournament like that with your national team, especially an Olympics, you’re kind of taking any role you’re given, and you run with it. You’re going to see a lot of players who are star-caliber offensive guys who are going to have to play a completely different role. I’m excited, like I said.”

The only goal is the gold medal.

And when Raymond returns, it’ll be a silver trophy.

NHL.com senior writer Dan Rosen contributed to this report