Red Wings Needed 2023-24 Raymond to Show up

Before that tournament, Raymond was on pace for 32 goals.

In 2023-24, when Detroit missed the playoffs on a tiebreaker, Raymond was one of those players who was driving the bus. He scored 15 goals in the club’s final 24 games. That would’ve worked out to 52 goals over an 82-game season. He was averaging 23.4 goals over his first 56 games that season.

If the Red Wings had that Raymond down the stretch this season, they’d still be playing hockey right now.

Red Wings Want Raymond To Shoot More

Raymond finished the season with 173 shots. That was down from his career high of 192 shots last season. Raymond finished with 14.5% shooting percentage, which matches his career average.

Asked to analyze his season output, Raymond took a shot at it . . . and at himself.

“I didn’t think I had enough shots this year,” Raymond said. “That’s just purely statistic-based. But you could kind of see it in a game, too.

“Or, you know, I felt, at least personally. When I get shots off and kind of have that shot-first mentality, it creates a lot of things, and it leads to a lot of good stuff. So, to pinpoint one area, that’s probably it.”

He’ll get no argument on that point from his coach.

“When we talk about Lucas as an individual, I’m a real big believer in his shot in his toolkit,” Red Wings coach Todd McLellan said. “That may be one of the best things that he has and that he brings to the game.

“We’ve talked about it. Not just at the end of the season, obviously, throughout the season. And if you just take his shooting percentage and you throw in an extra hundred shots, which I think he’s very capable of, we have a 40-goal scorer, and that’s something we’ll push him towards.”

Next season, the Red Wings want Raymond to put himself ahead of his teammates when he has the puck in the offensive zone.

“He’s a very unselfish guy, and sometimes you have to be a little bit selfish and take the shot, rather than looking off,” McLellan said. “Those are areas that we have to push players to become better in, and that’s a target for him.”

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