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Lucas Raymond is the Perfect Winger to Play Alongside

Originally posted on Inside The Rink
By Alexander DeBerardinis | Last updated Jan 23, 2026 8:16 PM ET

There are a lot of reasons for star players to want to come to Detroit nowadays. The history has always been strong, but now the team is winning, the team has a ton of cap space, and they have a good future outlook. Lost in all of that is how well Detroit can support a star player. It’s become clear with Moritz Seider that any right-side defenceman will have a really easy time playing behind him.

Despite his recent ascent though, Lucas Raymond is underrated as a commodity for another star player to bounce off of. I’ll stay away from just the box score numbers, he can obviously work as both a goal scorer or a playmaker and his stick handling skills are strong as well. But for today, I’m going to be diving deeper into the numbers and illustrating why playing alongside Lucas Raymond is going to be a dream for any star players looking to sign.

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Lucas Raymond is a True Swiss-Army Knife

There aren’t many players in the NHL who can do all the things that Lucas Raymond does on a nightly basis. Obviously, scoring over a point per game is going to help, but his impact on the game goes far beyond just the box score totals.

It’s easiest to start with how good Raymond is on the defensive side of the puck. Raymond gets some pretty harsh deployments, he currently starts 57% of his shifts in the defensive zone, for comparison, Ottawa’s golden boy Tim Stutzle gets deployed defensively only 30% of the time. Not to mention, Lucas Raymond also takes on some of the NHL’s most elite competition. Compared to Nick Suzuki, one of the favourites for the Selke, Lucas Raymond plays against tougher competition more often than Suzuki does. Even in spite of all this, Lucas Raymond remains effective with a CF% over 50%, meaning Detroit still controls play more often than the team they’re playing.

Offensively, Raymond is at his best, however. Obviously teams know how lethal Lucas Raymond is a playmaker, he’s comfortable finding the open man in all situations. He’s mastered the head fake to create space like few other players have. His shot is also nothing to mess with. Lucas Raymond has one hell of a wrist shot. His accuracy is obvious to anyone who watches, but his power is often overlooked. His 24 shots in the 80-90mph range show Raymond is a consistently more powerful shooter than Jason Robertson, who only has 18 in that range. Raymond has also taken 83 fewer shots than Robertson. Raymond can fit alongside anyone offensively as both a threat to score and to pass.

On the power play, Lucas Raymond is one of the best creators in the league. Lucas Raymond is tied for 8th in power play points this season. And that’s on a list that has three Dallas Stars who play together. But believe it or not, this is a step down from last season, where Raymond was tied for 3rd. Lucas Raymond is clearly one of the best power play threats in the league and for any star forward stepping out with him for the extra man, they know they’re going to feast.

In any situation, anywhere on the ice, Lucas Raymond can change the outlook of a play. Be it through his solid work in tough minutes defensively to his ability to create offensively as a dual-threat that can make the most of anything the defence gives him.

Raymond is Already Helping Detroit’s Stars Shine:

Sure, Detroit is lacking a superstar, but the star players Detroit does have, improve when playing alongside Lucas Raymond. Let’s start by taking a look at Alex DeBrincat, Detroit’s second-leading point scorer and leading goal scorer.

When playing away from Raymond, DeBrincat is solid. His 51% CF% is great, especially playing alongside Patrick Kane and Andrew Copp, who, while solid, aren’t exactly all-stars. However, when he is playing alongside Lucas Raymond, the numbers change drastically. His CF% skyrockets up to 61%, meaning Detroit is dominating the play when DeBrincat is across from Raymond.

This trend also extends to Dylan Larkin, Detroit’s best center. When Dylan Larkin, who has a season CF% of 51% as well, was playing without Lucas Raymond, his lines with Emmitt Finnie and Mason Appleton had a CF% of 34.7%. Later on, when he was placed with Emmitt Finnie and Marco Kasper, the line was also caved in at 41.8%.

Detroit clearly lacks a star forward to play on the left wing. While Marco Kasper has been pretty solid in his time on the top line, he’s far from the guy you want running the show up there. Detroit has needed a truly dominant forward for a while. Knowing they can have dominant numbers if they come to Detroit to play across from Raymond might be the perfect incentive to get some talent in Detroit.

Wrapping Up:

See, I did a non-trade-related piece, so you can’t give me the clickbait title for now. After watching that Minnesota game, my co-host and I for Kicking Tires were talking about the highlights of the night, and Lucas Raymond was one of them. There’s just something different on the ice when he’s out there. As much as we love guys like Emmitt Finnie and Marco Kasper, we largely agree he deserved better.

Be it a Jason Robertson or Artemi Panarin trade, I think Raymond will get his duo soon enough. When he does, don’t be too surprised to see him put up huge numbers. This season I think Moritz Seider made Red Wings fans realize they shouldn’t be having any ceiling conversations about the young defenceman because there is clearly more to his game. Slowly, I think the same conversation is starting to happen with Raymond, and Detroit is all the better for it.

Alright, back to trade-related pieces.