The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn doesn’t dole out praise for the denizens of Detroit very often, but he mentions the team’s top rookie (for the present moment) in his “16 Stats” column:
Detroit has had some bad lottery luck during its rebuild, but the Red Wings may have found a real gem in Lucas Raymond. The 2020 fourth pick has four goals and seven points in six games and has helped propel the team’s top line to an electric start. Both Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi are playing point-per-game hockey and together the trio has earned a 73 percent expected goals rate while outscoring opponents 6-0 in just 32 minutes of hockey. No other line has scored more goals-per-60 than Detroit’s top group at 11.4.
There are obviously still some pieces of the puzzle missing, but the team’s start has been promising in seeing a path forward back to the playoffs. Detroit is top five in expected goals percentage this season at 57 percent and its top line is a big part of it. Moritz Seider having a strong start to his career on the back end has also been very helpful. He and Raymond look like real foundational pieces early on.
Continued (paywall); Wings fans are hoping that Raymond and Seider are indeed the “real deal.”
