European prospect round-up: Raymond scores on a busy day in Sweden (and he chats with GT.se as well)

The Detroit Red Wings were busy adding to their prospect pool over the past two days, so I’ve been a little busy.

Between the Czech league stopping for a couple of weeks, Jared McIsaac (HPK of the Finnish Liiga) and Malte Setkov (Malmo Redhawks of the SHL) suffering injuries, and a busy Swedish hockey schedule, the last two days of prospect activity have a Nordic feel to them.

So:

On Wednesday, per Red Wings Prospects on Twitter:

In the Allsvenskan, Gustav Berglund finished at -1 in 16:22 played as Vasteras IK won 3-2 in a shootout over Kristianstands;

Gustav Lindstrom finished at -1 in 24:32 of ice time, and Filip Larsson served as the back-up goaltender, as Almtuna IS won 4-2 over Sodertalje SK;

In the Finnish Liiga, McIsaac played only 34 seconds for HPK as they lost 4-3 in a shootout to Assat Pori. Kasper Kotkansalo played 22:12 for Assat, and Otto Kivenmaki didn’t play for the “Aces”;

On Thursday, in the SHL: Rogle BK won 3-2 over Oskarshamn without Moritz Seider;

Matias Brome had 1 shot in 21:29 played as Orebro lost 2-1 to Malmo. Malte Setkov didn’t play for Malmo as he’s hurt;

Jonatan Berggren had an assist and finished at +1 in 11:59 played as Skelleftea AIK won 4-2 over HV71;

Albin Grewe finished at -1 in 8:41 played as Djurgardens IF won 3-2 in OT over Lulea;

And Lucas Raymond scored a goal on 1 shot in 14:41 played as the Frolunda Indians won 3-0 over Brynas. Here’s his goal:

Raymond spoke to GT.se’s Oskar Lindwall after the game:

For Raymond, it was his second goal this season. As recently as Tuesday, Frölunda’s super talent was drafted fourth overall by the Detroit Red Wings.

“It’s been a lot this week, but fun, too. It’s fun to get back to the game quickly. We played very well as a team today,” he says.

Wednesday night was hectic for Raymond, as the draft was followed by a series of interviews and conversations with people in the Red Wings organization.

You’re not tired now?

“No, I actually don’t think so. It is clear that I was tired the day after sleeping four hours. But at the same time you get energy as soon as you get to the rink and meet the ‘old men.’ It’s been pretty easy. And as we play now, it’s just fun to play,” says Raymond.

Then he can go over to Detroit

Has there been a lot of talk with Detroit in recent days?

“A part. But at the same time it was a game today and practice yesterday. I have full focus here, and they understand that too. They probably don’t want to disturb me so much. You have to take it more when it calms down and you get time left over.”

That Raymond will spend the entire season in Frölunda is already clear. But it will probably be the last.

“This season I want to play here and then we’ll see next year. Given that I have not talked much with them yet, I can’t say much about it. But it’s absolutely sick to be able to come to a team like Detroit and be part of their new journey.”

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George Malik

My name is George Malik, and I'm the Malik Report's editor/blogger/poster. I have been blogging about the Red Wings since 2006, when MLive hired me to work their SlapShots blog, and I joined Kukla's Korner in 2011 as The Malik Report. I'm starting The Malik Report as a stand-alone site, hoping that having my readers fund the website is indeed the way to go to build a better community and create better content.