Draft Profile: Lucas Raymond
Lucas Raymond is a 5’-10”, 183 pound winger, that can play on either the left side or the right. He is considered by some to be the most complete winger in the entire draft. He has the stickhandling skills, playmaking ability, and finishing ability that you would want from a top 10 overall draft pick.
He is known as being a playmaker first, sometimes deferring to make a pass for his teammates instead of taking his shot, but he also brings an above-average shot to the table when he utilizes it, but what makes him a complete player is his work ethic and drive on both ends of the ice. He is not afraid to gett involved in board battles and is someone that will be able to drive play and drive shot percentages throughout his career.
The only real knocks on his game are his skating is simply average and he is a bit smaller. On the skating issue, it appears as if he is a player that does not let that slow down his game, pun not intended. He understands how to change speed with the puck on his stick and execute highly skilled plays at all speeds. That is exactly what you want to see out of a guy that might be lacking the high-end speed expected in the modern game. Some might even say that having an ability to change speeds is more important than being a fast skater, and it appears as if Raymond has learned that already.
As for the size issue, the NHL has become a league where smaller players can thrive. The main thing is that a smaller player has to learn how to avoid being hit, and with Raymond’s ability to change speeds he will be able to make that adjustment when he makes his NHL debut.
His longtime linemate, Karl Henriksson, had the following quote on Raymond from the Athletic: “(He’s) amazing to watch. Still, in practices you just can’t help but go ‘wow’ at things he does,” Henriksson said. “He’s so slick. He just turns defenders. His size is not a problem. My job is to get open. He waits for the perfect opportunity so just have your stick on the ice because it will come.”
Lucas Raymond is projected by some to be the third-best player in this NHL draft when all is said and done, which might make you wonder why do some mock drafts have him going later than third, including Bob Mckenzie’s draft ranking that has Lucas Raymond going 6th overall. It appears as if there is a simple answer: he was not given the ice time to shine over the past season.
Raymond made Frolunda’s senior team last season, but as a result of being one of the youngest players on the team, he was relegated to a 4th line role, which meant ice time was hard to find. In that ice time though he found a way to put up 10 points in 33 games, which is 14th in points per game for the last 20 years for draft-eligible players in the SHL. For reference, a player that put up a similar amount of points per game in his draft-eligible season is William Nylander.
Even though those numbers are impressive, they do not pop off the page like other players in this draft class do, which is why some scouts/mock drafts have him so low. You must wonder what Raymond’s statistics would have looked like in this past season had he been given more ice time.
The nice thing though about this crazy year is that the SHL season has started and Raymond has been utilized in a bigger role to start the season, and he is proving his doubters wrong. In 2 games so far this season he has scored a goal and an assist. You can get a bit of a sample of what he brings to the table on the PP in the clip below:
So that leads us to the final question, why should the Ducks draft Lucas Raymond if he is available and how does he fit on the Ducks roster with the Ducks current roster? For the first question, my answer would be that although Raymond is a winger, and you might want to prioritize going for a center or a defenseman in this draft, Raymond is the type of winger that can have a massive impact on the game. He is so complete at both ends of the ice that he could become your best point producer, while also being a guy that you want matching up against the other teams top forwards because you know that when he is on the ice, the Ducks will be driving play towards the other team's goal. He also could be the steal of the draft due to his counting stats being less than ideal as broken down above.
For the second question, the Ducks could utilize him in a few different ways. You could either pair him up with Trevor Zegras and allow the two best playmaking forwards to set each other up for goals for years to come. You might wonder which of the two will shoot the puck due to both seeming to be playmakers not goal scorers, and I would argue that both of these players have above average shots so they could flourish with one another. In addition to this, Raymond’s prowess in his own end will help Zegras significantly.
If the Ducks instead wanted to split these two players up, then you have a legitimate playmaker on each of your top two lines to distribute the puck to other players. I would argue Raymond is good enough at driving play from the wing that you could build a line around him instead of the standard thought process of needing to build a line around a center.