Yahoo Sports Despite Slow Offensive Start, 200-Foot Game and Underlying Numbers on Lucas Raymond's Side
Through six games, Detroit Red Wings forward Lucas Raymond is still looking for his first goal. Though he has four assists to his name, that's probably not the start he wanted to his new season under a new and lucrative contract. Still, both Raymond's underlying numbers and his role/usage provide reason for optimism.
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As far as the former is concerned, per Natural Stat Trick, Raymond presently ranks 4th among the Red Wings in five-on-five expected goal share, with the three players ahead of him (Tyler Motte, Albert Johansson, and Jonatan Berggren) all having played significantly fewer minutes. Raymond also ranks first among Red Wings in individual expected goals (also courtesy of Natural Stat Trick), which provides good reason to believe that if he keeps playing the way he is, the puck will start finding the back of the net.
Meanwhile, as far as his role is concerned, coach Derek Lalonde lauded Raymond this morning for his work in the defensive aspect of the game. "I think it's a positive he's in every situation now," Lalonde said following this morning's pre-game skate. "Obviously, he's got the four assists, but you can see the increase in role on the penalty kill, and you can see—we protected leads our last games out on an extended goalie pull, and he ate those minutes too, so I think it's a positive."
In the above featured video, I discuss Raymond's early impact (while also erroneously crediting him for just three assists, when he in fact has four. Apologies!). In brief, despite the slow offensive start, there's lots to like in Raymond's game at the moment.
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