MLive’s Ansar Khan and the Free Press’s Helene St. James offer a few more quips and quotes regarding one Lucas Raymond, per Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman and director of amateur scouting Kris Draper.
Khan noted that the Red Wings believe that Raymond has good “hockey sense”…
“It seems the smarter players always have the puck on their stick,” Draper said. “They know how to carry the puck, where to put the puck, how to get open. The vision and creativity with the puck, they see their teammates, they have the ability to make players around them better. These are the go-to guys on the power play. That’s what we’re seeing from Lucas Raymond. There’s a lot of things you can teach, but hockey sense is a gift.”
The Red Wings had several viable options at No. 4 after the first three selections went as expected – Alexis Lafreniere to the Rangers, Quinton Byfield to the Kings and Tim Stutzle to the Senators.
Yzerman said the Red Wings were set on Raymond for some time.
“I listened to our staff, they watched all the games, they debated a lot, and they come up with their rationale for the list,” Yzerman said. “I certainly have the ability to overrule, but in this situation, I was very comfortable and in agreement with our guys and their assessment of Lucas. I had the time to watch him a lot and be more familiar, so I was very supportive of this pick.”
And the Free Press’s St. James took note of Yzerman and Draper’s takes on the ways in which the team was able to scout Raymond:
The draft was delayed three months by the pandemic, giving scouts extra time to prepare.
“It was watching a lot of games, all in season, and then when the world stopped, we relied on video,” Draper said. “Then we went back and we double-checked that we had seen live, watched more games on video, and from there it’s discussion.
“We kept talking and our list didn’t really change much. The one name we kept coming back to was Lucas Raymond. Every time we came away from watching him, there were a lot of comments amongst our group of just how smart of a hockey player he is.”
It’s the second straight year Yzerman has taken a European player coming off playing in their native country’s top league. Last year, he used the sixth overall selection on defenseman Moritz Seider, who had been playing in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga, the top league in Germany.
“We watch all the leagues and sometimes it’s really good and in the case of Lucas, it was a little more difficult because he’s not playing 20-22 minutes a night on the men’s team,” Yzerman said. “It’s a coincidence that Moritz was playing in the men’s league last year and we picked Lucas this year. We don’t have a pro bias or a negative bias on where they play.”
Update: Here’s one more quip, from DetroitRedWings.com’s Josh Berenter:
Yzerman said he thinks Raymond has the ability and work ethic to develop into an everyday NHL player.
“Filling out, physically developing, getting stronger, going from a teenager to a man,” the Red Wings GM said about what Raymond needs to do to compete at the highest level in the world. “You do that through training and through playing. We think he has all the tools and the skills. He just has to put the time and the work in.
“It’s a natural evolution of a teenager turning into an adult. We just believe it’s a matter of time, and we’re confident he’ll put the work in and develop the strength and power needed to do the things he wants to do in the NHL.”
Update #2: From 97.1 the Ticket’s Will Burchfield:
“We put the work in, we watched, we interviewed, we made calls,” said Draper. “Anything we could do to gather information on Lucas Raymond, we certainly did it. And in the end, everything just kept coming back that this young hockey player wants to be a hockey player.”
“What we liked about him,” said Yzerman, “we think he’s a very intelligent player, a highly-skilled player, very competitive. So we think he fits in with the kind of team we want to build.”
These are the qualities Yzerman put a premium on as he drafted the pieces for an eventual Cup-winner in Tampa Bay. Can we interest you in one more comparison? Good, because ‘intelligent, skilled and competitive’ might be the perfect description of the 5’10 Brayden Point.
Ultimately, Lucas Raymond will be Lucas Raymond. He made that point himself Tuesday night when asked whether he patterns his game after anyone in the NHL. No, he said — with distinctive Swedish courtesy. There are plenty of players he likes to watch, but none he strives to mimic.
If it all works out, Raymond will eventually call images of Zetterberg and Marner and Point to mind. And then he’ll show us something that resists comparison, that is uniquely Lucas Raymond, like that dazzling goal against Russia. The Red Wings need playmakers, and Raymond makes plays. He’ll be making them in Detroit as soon as next season.
