Chances are, you saw this one coming. Lucas Raymond is officially a member of Team Sweden's preliminary roster. It's an honor for the Detroit Red Wings forward, who dominated this season after he put up 80 points and 27 goals. And something tells me that's only the beginning of what should be a legendary career in Hockeytown.
Rasmus Dahlin of the Buffalo Sabres, Gabe Landeskog of the Colorado Avalanche, William Nylander of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Adrian Kempe of the Los Angeles Kings, and Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning joined Raymond in the preliminary lineup.
While every player deserves a spot, Raymond can become the face of Team Sweden, especially if they enjoy a good run at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games. Why's that? Well, Raymond's young, and you can call him the best player on this Red Wings team whose young core is just now heating up.
Lucas Raymond has the best chance of the prelim roster to be 'the guy' on Team Sweden
Others, like Rasmus Dahlin, is a great player on a bad hockey team, and that's been the case since he debuted in 2018-19. Victor Hedman is an older player whose best days are about to be behind him, even if he can more than still play at 34 years old.
Adrian Kempe's good, but his ceiling isn't near Raymond's, given his 401 points and 194 goals in 630 games. That's still epic, but so far, Raymond's on pace to shatter what Kempe's done, having found the net 98 times in 320 games while putting up 254 points.
While Kempe's probably maxed out, Raymond's still just entering his prime and hasn't hit his ceiling yet. Gabriel Landeskog is one heck of a story, and words can't express how awesome it was to make his return to the game when the stakes were at their highest for Colorado this postseason.
But, Landeskog's on the back end of his career and is also on the wrong side of 30. That said, you can't underestimate his resilience after he made his return following three seasons worth of rehab. It's unbelievable, and it will be a storyline to follow for the Olympics.
The biggest challenge to Lucas Raymond is...
Um, how does a division rival from the Original Six sound? Yep, none other than William Nylander of the Toronto Maple Leafs. If I were to guess, Nylander's the face of Team Sweden at the moment, and it'll be up to Raymond to knock him off the pedestal.
Averaging over a point per game between October and January would be a great place to begin, and leading the Red Wings to what'll hopefully be a top-three spot in the Atlantic when play pauses. Also, Nylander may not have the Big Four with him, depending on what happens with John Tavares and Mitch Marner.
If Raymond outperforms Nylander throughout the first half of the 2025-26 season, then it wouldn't surprise me if fans started thinking about him every time someone mentioned Team Sweden. We'll see if Raymond's up for the challenge.
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