It’s Simple: Red Wings Need Goals From Raymond

That being said, the Red Wings weren’t signing Raymond to an eight-year contract this summer with an AAV of $8.075 so he’d be helping set up other players to score. You get that kind of dough because you’re a sniper, a finisher.

Raymond is leading the Red Wings with 13 points. Still, that just one of those points is a goal is an entirely alarming scenario.

Only 14 games into the season, he’s gone six games without a goal. Amazingly, that’s not his longest goalless drought of the season. Raymond failed to tally once during Detroit’s first seven games.

Compare that to the end of last season. Over Detroit’s final 18 games of the 2023-24 campaign, Raymond scored 14 goals. It gave him a career-high 31 goals and got the man paid.

Now, he needs to start making the team’s long-term investment in him pay off.

“Obviously, you want to score goals,” Raymond said. “Everyone wants to score goals.”

The thing is, even in the NHL, everyone can’t score goals. That’s blatantly obvious on a Red Wings team this season that’s scored two goals or less in eight of 14 games.

Raymond Must Start Shooting The Puck

Now, no one is saying Raymond is performing poorly. In fact, it’s entirely the opposite. He is playing the game the right way, being responsible defensively. But again, first and foremost, they’re paying him to be closing the deal when he’s got the puck in the red light district.

“I think he probably reflects the rest of our group,” Detroit coach Derek Lalonde said. “A little more puck to the net, a little more body to the net.”

Even in Saturday’s 4-0 shutout loss to the New York Rangers, there were some hopeful signs from Raymond. He directed four pucks toward that net that Rangers goalie Jonathan Quick was required to stop.

Over his previous five games, Raymond had a combined four shots on goal. Ten games this season saw him finishing the night with one shot or less.

With 23 shots for the season, Raymond ranks fifth on the club. He trails team leader Dylan Larkin by 17 shots.

Overall, Raymond is seeking to avoid pushing the panic button over his slow goal-scoring start.

“I feel like you keep doing the things that have had success in the past and it’ll come,” he said. “I’m not too worried about that.”

He’s not wrong. But here’s another thought that’s not wrong.

For the Red Wings to consistently succeed, Raymond needs to start scoring goals. The sooner, the better.