By Bob Duff
Last season was a coming out party for Detroit Red Wings star forward Lucas Raymond.
This season is about Raymond establishing his credentials among the elite performers in the NHL.
Following a four-point night Monday in a 5-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings, Raymond is leading the Red Wings in scoring with 56 points. He’s on pace for a 92-point season. That would be the best single-season performance by a Detroit player since Pavel Datsyuk was collecting 97 points in 2008-09.
Since 2000, Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg are the only Red Wings players to be posting a 90-point campaign. That’s the kind of company that Raymond is keeping.
It’s the kind of company that Detroit coach Todd McLellan believes Raymond resembles.
“I think I said one day he reminds me a little of Zetterberg,” McLellan explained. “You could open up a whole book of adjectives to describe Zetterberg. That’s pretty easy. I could probably do that for Lucas right now.
“He’s a complete player. He plays all three zones, he plays them equally hard. He values each of the three as importantly as the stat sheet. I don’t want to say it’s hard to find players like that but when you do you treasure them.”
Red Wings Raymond A Winner
It’s about more than piling up points where Raymond is concerned. He truly is driving the bus for the Red Wings in all aspects of the game. Much like Zetterberg was doing for the team when Detroit was a perennial Stanley Cup contender.
“I think they’re both winners,” McLellan said, again returning to the Raymond-Zetterberg parallels. “The difference right now is Hank has the jewelry to prove it and it takes a team to do that.
“I’d say a winner with Hank, but I think you could win with Raymond for sure. Competitive, two-way, high hockey IQ, leader.”
