Right-winger Lucas Raymond was one of the most important Detroit Red Wings on the team’s roster for the 2023-24 NHL season. Raymond nearly dragged the Red Wings to a playoff spot, scoring 31 goals and adding 41 assists in 82 games played for the team. In the last 10 games of the 2023-24 season, Raymond scored 10 goals and added five assists that kept the Red Wings in the playoff race. Raymond has only missed eight games in the three seasons that he has played with the Red Wings.
Raymond and the Red Wings are reportedly far apart on contract negotiations. General manager Steve Yzerman said that the team would have to fit other contracts around the contracts that needed to be signed of both Raymond and defenseman Moritz Seider. These two players are arguably the most important players on the Red Wings’ current roster. Not re-signing them would call into question Yzerman’s negotiating tactics.
Both Raymond and Seider need new contracts at the same time. As two of the most important players currently on the Red Wings’ roster, Yzerman needs to get these two contracts right. Pay too much for these two, and the Red Wings will be up against the NHL’s salary cap. There are many cautionary tales of teams needing to trade away players due to being up against the cap. The latest example being the Toronto Maple Leafs recently signing center William Nylander to an eight-year contract with an average annual value of $11.5 million.
Nylander is one of the “core four” of Maple Leafs who have had years of regular season success but still have not been able to win a Stanley Cup. The Maple Leafs have not won the Stanley Cup since 1967. This is not the same case for the Red Wings, who last won the Stanley Cup in 2008. Nylander will be 36 years old when this current contract expires.
The Red Wings drafted Raymond with the fourth pick in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft. Prior to this draft the Red Wings had been searching for an elite level scorer. The Red Wings have found such a scorer in Raymond despite not winning an NHL draft lottery. The Red Wings have not had the first pick in the NHL draft since 1986 when the team selected right-winger Joe Murphy out of Michigan State University. Murphy played for the Red Wings for three seasons before being traded to the Edmonton Oilers.
This is despite the Red Wings not trying to compete during the 2020-21 NHL season. The team had the fourth fewest points of any NHL team during this season. The Red Wings were on pace to have the first overall pick in the draft prior to the NHL season being shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Left-winger Alexis Lafreniere was the presumptive number one pick all year long. This meant that teams were “tanking” to put them in the best position to draft the Saint-Eustache, Quebec native. Lafreniere would eventually be drafted number one overall by the New York Rangers. In 82 games played for the Rangers during the 2023-24 season, Lafreniere scored 28 goals and added 29 assists.
Raymond’s agent, J.P. Barry, who also represents Red Wing Patrick Kane, reportedly met with Yzerman to discuss contract terms. In the intervening time, Kane and the Red Wings agreed to a one-year contract extension worth a base salary of $4 million. The 35-year-old initially signed with the Red Wings in November of 2023 after recovering from hip resurfacing surgery. In 50 games played for the Red Wings during the 2023-24 season, Kane scored 20 goals and added 27 assists. This was the fourth most goals and points on the Red Wings during this season, behind Raymond, Dylan Larkin, and Alex DeBrincat.
