Raymond navigating 'different experience' while sidelined with injury

DETROIT - Watching NHL games from the press box is making Lucas Raymond feel very anxious.

The Detroit Red Wings forward, who skated with his teammates Friday afternoon for the first time since sustaining a lower-body injury during practice on Feb. 10, said it hasn't been fun playing the role of spectator.
"It's been nerve-wracking, to be honest, watching it," Raymond said following Friday's practice at BELFOR Training Center inside Little Caesars Arena. "I've never been out before. It's a little bit different experience, but it's a lot of nerves sitting up there knowing that you can't control anything."
Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde said that Raymond remains day-to-day, but is hopeful the 20-year-old Swede will be able to play on Saturday night when Detroit hosts the Tampa Bay Lightning at Little Caesars Arena.
Saturday's game also marks
Lucas Raymond Bobblehead Night
, presented by Comerica Bank, at Little Caesars Arena.

"I don't know if he will be ready tomorrow," Lalonde said. "A step in the right direction. The goal today was to give him a full practice, fully involved, contact and he did that. I'll check with our medical staff here, hopefully we'll have him."
Raymond has missed seven games since being placed on injured reserve on Feb. 14. Last season, he was one of only three NHL rookies to play all 82 games.
"You never want to get hurt," said Raymond, who has 33 points on 15 goals and 18 assists in 50 games this season. "It's never fun being hurt. It's been going well and moving in the right direction. Just taking it as it comes."
It's been difficult for Raymond to sit out, especially with the Red Wings surging into the playoff picture.
"When you're playing, you're in it all the time," Raymond said. "When you're watching, it's out of your control which is a little tougher. But it's been a good experience too."
Detroit, which has won seven of its past eight games, currently holds the second and final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference as of Friday afternoon.

"Right now, we're a team that not a lot of people want to play against," Raymond said. "That comes from hard work and being a good group in here."
On what has made the Red Wings so successful as of late, Raymond said players are all buying into the principles the coaching staff keep preaching.
"It makes you want to get back even quicker," Raymond said. "The guys are playing great out there, sticking up for each other and playing as a team. A lot of fun to watch."