Red Wings forward Lucas Raymond spoke with NHL.com’s Dan Rosen about his outlook and his team’s outlook for the 2023-2024 season, suggesting that both he and the Red Wings need to take a step forward this upcoming season:
“Last season, I think we took a step as a team, moved in the right direction, and coming into this season we’re taking an even bigger step,” Raymond said. “Expectations are getting higher for the team but also for myself, which is a lot of fun.”
Raymond seemed to hit a conditioning wall about halfway through his sophomore season, but he insists that the 12-point drop in point production should rectify itself due to an accumulation of experience:
“I feel like when you first get in, you’re young and you think you know everything,” Raymond said. “It’s like that when you’re 15 too and you’re like, ‘Oh, I got this.’ But then the next year you’re like, ‘Oh, I wish I knew this,’ and the next year it’s the same. So next year I’ll probably have that again, ‘Oh, I learned this, but I wish I knew it before.’ As long as you want to learn and you want to develop I think that’s the biggest asset you can have.”
Raymond has that.
He said he has spent the offseason training his 5-foot-11, 176-pound body to better handle the physical rigors of the NHL.
“I’m still 21 and my body is developing so to gain that physical advantage that’s been a big focus,” Raymond said. “You want to develop yourself, have that drive and good things come with that.”
He knows he’s still young but is also aware that he can’t use that as an excuse anymore, not when he has played 156 NHL games.
“Whether you’re young, old or in the middle, it doesn’t really matter, you play the same game, you’re on the same ice,” Raymond said. “I am young, but I’m in it. The first year everything is new, everything is exciting. The second year you’re getting a bit more feel of it. Coming into my third year, now I have more experience and I know how to deal with certain situations I get put in. I’m excited for it.”
Continued; I have faith that Raymond will rebound from a middling second half of last season. He’s still growing into his body, developing endurance, and improving his skating, and he should continue to develop going forward.
