Could Lucas Raymond be a Top 20 Winger in the NHL This Season?
Could Lucas Raymond be one of the NHL's best wingers this season? The answer hinges on consistency.
The NHL Network's list of the top 20 wingers came out earlier this week. No Detroit Red Wing was included among them.
This exclusion made sense this season, but that might change in the future. The Red Wings' winger group is still building the elite talent it takes to crack that list, but it has gotten deep the past few seasons with the additions of Alex DeBrincat, Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrick Kane to the mix. And as he gains experience three years into his career, Lucas Raymond is developing into an elite winger.
Out of all the Red Wings' wingers, Raymond could crack that top 20 some day if he continues his trajectory. The key is for him to become more consistent.
Raymond has been one of the league’s top 20 at various moments. There's little question who Detroit's best forward was in the last month of the 2023-24 season. Raymond was the Red Wings' heartbeat that nearly brought playoff hockey to Little Caesars Arena for the first time ever. He scored 12 points in eight games in April. His seven goals in March led the team during a month when scoring came at a premium with center Dylan Larkin out with an injury. Defensively, he battled and even fought his opponents to protect the net.
Raymond was easily a top 20 winger in that little stretch of the season. The problem is, Raymond's play hasn't stayed consistent month to month or even year to year. Last season's team-leading 72-point campaign served as a renaissance after a 45-point sophomore slump. On a season perspective, he also had three separate scoring droughts during the season of four games or more without a point. There were also spans in the middle of the season when it felt like Raymond let his linemates take control, playing more as a supporter than a fellow initiator.
For a winger whose primary contribution is his scoring output, Raymond is still developing into the insistent, automatic scorer that could be. The task to become one of the game's best wingers is to make his momentary takeovers a regular occurrence.
Until Raymond's offensive game develops the kind of inevitable regularity that puts other teams on notice, it will be hard to include his name among the top 20 players at his position. This isn't to say there's anything truly wrong with his current game — comparison is the thief of joy, top 20 lists or otherwise. But if he’s truly going to be considered an elite winger, he has to become consistent. That’s what differentiates the true greats from the momentarily great.
Raymond will have plenty of mentorship to reach elite form this season. Kane was one of the best players in the NHL, period, during the 2010s, and Tarasenko was one of its best wingers in the same era. In addition to more physical training and mental familiarity with the game, gleaning advice from those two is a masterclass in elite hockey. Raymond could be great next season with the help of those potential mentors. And if he can build off his end-of-season dominance, he could be one of those top 20 wingers.
To do that, he has to be consistent.