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    Michael Whitaker
    Michael Whitaker
    Jul 16, 2025, 00:20
    Updated at: Jul 17, 2025, 19:43

    There is no denying that Detroit Red Wings forward Lucas Raymond is one of the best young players in the National Hockey League today - but why isn't he getting that acknowledgement from the League's official site? 

    Raymond, who is second overall in total points accumulated by a player aged 25 or younger, wasn't included in NHL.com's recent ranking of the best 10 players in that age bracket, a list that is already drawing considerable and understandable backlash from Red Wings fans. 

    The forwards that were named included Tim Stützle, Jack Hughes, Matt Boldy, Wyatt Johnston, Cole Caufield, Connor Bedard, Macklin Celebrini, Matthew Knies, Seth Jarvis, and Matvei Michkov. 

    This most recent season, Raymond scored 27 goals with 53 assists to establish a new career-high in points with 80, which is more than any player on the above list reached. 

    • Boldy reached 70 points, scoring 27 goals with 46 assists
    • Caufield reached 70 points with 37 goals and 33 assists
    • Michkov, a rookie, reached 63 points with 26 goals and 37 assists
    • Bedard reached 67 points, scoring 23 goals with 44 assists
    • Stützle reached 79 points, scoring 24 goals with 55 assists
    • Johnston reached 73 points, scoring 33 goals with 38 assists
    • Knies only reached 58 points, scoring 29 goals with 29 assists
    • Jarvis only reached 67 points, scoring 32 goals with 35 assists

    Meanwhile, the seasons for Hughes and Celebrini were both cut short because of injuries; they reached 70 and 63 points, respectively. 

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    The disrespect aside, Raymond is going to be concentrating on elevating his game even further for the Red Wings as the 2025-26 NHL season approaches. 

    “I want to take further steps forward in my game,” Raymond recently told NHL.com/sv. “I think that I took a step already this past year, but I also feel that I have a lot left to develop. You always try to develop some specific things every summer, and it isn’t any different for me now. I will put in the work that’s required and hopefully I will earn a dividend.”

    The sky is the limit for Raymond, who is set to enter the second season of the eight-year extension that he inked with the Red Wings last September.

    The fact that Raymond wasn't included in the list of the 10 best players (despite outscoring all of them) who haven't yet celebrated their 25th birthday is not only bizarre, but flat-out incorrect. 

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