The young gold standard of the Detroit Red Wings

Lucas Raymond, Razor, Raymundo. Regardless of what you call him, Lucas Raymond is truly a dynamic player. Since being drafted 4th overall by the Red Wings in 2020, he has become one of the fans' favorite young players and has proven to be able to play at an elite level.

The 22-year-old Swedish forward registered career highs in goals, assists, and points last season and stepped up massively in the latter half of the season. While Captain Dylan Larkin was out of the lineup with an injury, Raymond practically carried the team when most of their "veteran" players were essentially invisible.

During that same stretch of games, Raymond made a habit of making season-saving plays. Whether scoring goals or developing into a near-elite-level playmaker, Raymond has proven that he is what all Red Wings forward prospects should strive to become.

What makes Lucas Raymond the Gold Standard?

Raymond became the Red Wings' best goal scorer, not named Dylan Larkin, in a very short time. He became just the third Red Wing to score 30 goals in a season during Steve Yzerman's rebuild, joining Tyler Bertuzzi and Dylan Larkin. A big reason for his goal-scoring prowess has been his ability to utilize his speed to get to open areas where he can best release his impressive shot.

Gaining weight last summer also helped Raymond in a big way. He was able to battle along the boards more effectively and not get knocked off the puck as easily. This has been instrumental in developing his primary weakness, his size. Being a smaller "skilled" player, he was always prone to be "out-muscled" by larger players along the boards and being more easily covered by defenders during the rush or when he was a net front.

Working on his stick handling, speed, and weight gain, he has emerged as an above-average playmaker. Being able to weave through defenders and keep them off the puck, he's become a real threat that many defenders have noted. Speaking from experience as a defenseman. Our worst nightmare is having to defend a full line of scoring threats at even strength or on penalty kill. Having to know where every opposing player is at any given time while deciding which one of them is the bigger threat all in a matter of seconds is one of the most stressful and difficult parts of any defenseman's job.

Lucas Raymond becoming as big of a threat as he has been will create an effect that will make defenders' lives a living nightmare. Especially if you put him on the same line as Dylan Larkin and Alex DeBrincat, defenders will have no clue who to focus on at any given moment. Allowing his linemates to find open ice will, in turn, likely lead to a pretty solid scoring chance.

In the end, Raymond has started to emerge as not only a leader on the ice, but also stands as the standard that we as Red Wings fans hope more of our prospects can reach.