NHL.com/sv’s Janne Bengtsson posted a lengthy interview with Lucas Raymond in Swedish today. Here’s a rough translation thereof:
Lucas Raymond on the playoff hunt with Detroit
The Red Wings’ Swedish star forward has set his sights on copying Zetterberg and Datsyuk
Lucas Raymond turned 23 at the end of March. But despite his relatively low age, he has already played four seasons in the National Hockey League.
Now Raymond is preparing for his fifth year in the world’s best hockey league. And he’s planning to take Red Wings to the playoffs after nine years outside them. That’s an eternity for a team that, between 1991 and 2016 reached the playoffs 25 times in a row, and also won the Stanley Cup four times during that period. Facts that everyone, players, club management and fans, are aware of in the hockey-crazy city in Michigan and on the team that is one of the NHL’s legendary Original Six.
“We have the capacity to get back to the playoffs. I feel like we’re doing it this season (25-26),” Lucas Raymond said.
“Detroit is a cool city to play in. Not only for the tradition and history of the team, but also because of how the fans treat us (players). We haven’t gone to the playoffs during the time I’ve been to the team, and we’ve had some really difficult years, so if there’s any who are disappointed and frustrated, it’s us players. But still, it’s sold out to every game,” says Raymond.
“And when you meet fans on the street, it’s never in a bad way. We have magical fans who support us in the wet and in the dry. Not the least, it’s something that drives me and the players; to get back where we belong.”
Lucas Raymond won the Red Wings in-house scoring title last season: 80 points (27+53) meaning a third-place finish in the Swedish scoring league in the NHL: behind the New Jersey Devils Jesper Bratt (88 points) and Toronto Maple Leafs William Nylander (84). Even so, Raymond is far from satisfied.
In the 25 years so far in the 2000’s, only two players in the Red Wings have reached 90 points: Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk. “Z” did so with 92 points in the 2007-08 season, and the Russian puck artist Datsyuk scored with 97 points, doubling up the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons.
Big Red Wings and hockey names that Lucas Raymond now challenges:
“Hopefully I can [post 90 points] next season. It would be fun. It’s there, absolutely. I scored 80 points last time, but I know there were things that I could have done better. At the same time, it’s not something I’m chasing; I want to play on a winning hockey team, and I want to make a difference on the ice, not just offensively but all over the ice. That’s the game that’s required for us to win games. But usually it has to do with producing points…it’s part of who I’m as a player and how the team uses me as a player. Like I said, it’s not something I’m chasing specially. If it comes, it will come.”
In his four years in Red Wings, Lucas Raymond, hockey-educated in Frolunda’s organization, has established himself as one of the leading players on the classic team. And many Red Wings fans hold Lucas Raymond high: in many quarters, on fan sites and blogs, Lucas is named the team’s next superstar.
Team coach Todd McLellan agrees:
“(Lucas Raymond) is such a complete player. I have said it before, that Lucas reminds me of (Henrik) Zetterberg and you can write a whole book with the adjectives that describe Zetterberg… it is very easy to do. Lucas is a complete player, he plays just as well and hard over all three zones, he values everyone as equally important. It’s hard to find players like him, but when you do, you stick with them,” McLellan said recently.
But what kind of player is Lucas Raymond? There were 27 goals and 53 goal-giving passes last time – are you a goalscorer or a playmaker, Lucas?
“Ha ha, good question. I really don’t know myself. Actually…Well, maybe I want to say that I’m a natural play-maker. Then I’ve worked a lot with my shot and above all to take my shots. Not just to score; a shot against goal creates so much else, it attracts people, it pulls forward situations. So goalscorer or play-maker..? Some kind of mix, I think I would say. But of course it’s always fun to score more goals than assists. Goals are the best feeling when playing hockey,” says Lucas.
“One of the fun things about hockey is that you can always develop, and learn all the time. Every summer you pick up some new thing; this I want to learn, this I want to sharpen up to. Or when you see someone you train with doing something… damn, I would have liked to get better at this. One of my great advantages is that I am very curious and that I really want to develop. It’s fun to be on ice and it’s fun to try new things, and make a difference. Then it will be even more fun. I’ll probably never be satisfied,” Lucas Raymond said with a laugh.
Detroit Red Wings is a team of Swedish traditions. Names like Nicklas Lidström, Tomas Holmström, Niklas Kronwall, and Henrik Zetterberg are just a few of the names from Red Wings’ long and extensive blue-and-yellow hockey history. And now Lucas Raymond, who is one of the six Swedes who has already been selected for the team going to the Olympics in Milan next year, is one of them.
“Down the line, Detroit has had so many Swedish players, and it’s players who have had leading roles,” says Lucas Raymond. And when it comes to the Olympics… from a Swedish perspective, there is always the connection between the Olympics and Detroit. Nicklas Lidstrom who decided the final (against Finland) in Turin in 2006, for example. And the Swedish in Detroit, it’s something you always get reminded of.”
