Lucas Raymond makes honest admission involving head coach Todd McLellan before the 2025-26 season starts
Photo credit: NHL.com
The Detroit Red Wings turned their game around after Steve Yzerman fired Derek Lalonde and hired Todd McLellan after missing the Stanley Cup playoffs; they'd experience a rejuvenation in their game, and Lucas Raymond has taken notice of how the team took to their new bench boss.
The Detroit Red Wings would ultimately experience a failure in accomplishing a season worthy enough for a trip to the Stanley Cup finals.
Derek Lalonde would lose his job, but the Red Wings would find new purpose under Todd McLellan, who would turn their losing ways into a 96-point pace over an 82-game campaign.
They'd lose their shot at a wildcard spot in the playoffs, as the Red Wings would be edged out by the Montreal Canadiens.
Reflecting back on the 2024-25 season, Lucas Raymond felt near the end when McLellan took over.
He saw a big change in how the team played.
Can Todd McLellan unlock Lucas Raymond's Full Potential?
Raymond would score a career-high 80 points (27-53) in 2024-25. His comment during the European media tour would sound like a case of full-throated support for McLellan.
"It was good, it was really good," Raymond said of the difference under McLellan. "Just when he came in, obviously it's not easy, I can imagine as a coach coming in mid-season to a team and trying to implement your stuff, but for us, I felt a big difference right away, and I think with him getting a full training camp and a full summer with all the training staff and the organization to push in his direction, it's going to benefit us a ton."
Raymond's fourth season will begin in 2025-26, after beginning his career in 2021-22. In 82 games that season, he'd score 57 points (23-34), and a sign that he hadn't fully tapped into his upside yet.
Which we may have seen this year as the start of him reaching his full potential.
Can McLellan tap into that and turn Raymond into a 100-point player? We've seen how he handles his skilled players, with Adrien Kempe in Los Angeles.
With the kind of buy-in we're seeing now, we hope so.
| POLL | ||
SEPTEMBRE 3 | 339 ANSWERS Lucas Raymond makes honest admission involving head coach Todd McLellan before the 2025-26 season starts Do you think forward Lucas Raymond of the Detroit Red Wings can unlock his full potential under Head Coach Todd McLellan? | ||
| Yes | 279 | 82.3 % |
| No | 60 | 17.7 % |
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