The Athletic’s Max Bultman posted a fine set of second-day-of-training-camp observations, including the following:
If Day 1 of Red Wings training camp was about first impressions and setting a tone, the story of Day 2 might have been about intensity — headlined by a battle drill in the corner to end practice.
And though you might not have picked 5-foot-11, 176-pound Lucas Raymond to have been one of the standouts in that kind of drill, the Red Wings’ dazzling 20-year-old winger made it his own anyway. Going up against Dylan Larkin, Raymond had to find a way to outmaneuver Detroit’s bigger, faster captain one-on-one. But he did it, scoring twice in some of the most impressive reps of the day.
“I thought that was amazing,” coach Derek Lalonde said. “And Dylan got frustrated from it. That’s the type of compete you want to establish in practice. You want to have those just natural habits. And that practice, that drill was there for a reason, and Raymond produced very well in that, and that was very exciting to see.”
There’s not much more that can be said about Raymond’s exceptional rookie campaign — which is good, because it’s time to move on to what he might have in store for an encore.
And if he’s going to be able to blend his skill and smarts with that kind of competitiveness, that is indeed an exciting possibility for the Red Wings.
